Circumstances haven’t been completely drama-free for Jill Duggar and the many members of her family. In a new video the former Counting On star, 29, and her husband, Derick Dillard, shared to their official YouTube channel, the young couple and parents set the record straight on their strained relationship with Jill’s family. “There’s been some distancing there,” Jill shared in the video.
“We’re not on the best terms with some of my family. We’ve had some disagreements, but we’re working towards healing definitely and restoration, but we’re having to kind of just take some time and heal.” The former TV personality explained that while it has been hard to reconnect with her family, she is hopeful that they will be on better terms in the future.
“We’re doing what’s best for our family right now and just working through, it I guess,” she says. “We are praying and trusting God that like the timeline is his and what that looks like and everything. So we definitely appreciate your prayers, and we don’t want to go into detail.”
Although Jill never addressed the reason for the rift with her family, Derick himself has alluded to issues with members of the Duggars — including Jill’s parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar — that seemingly dated back to the 2019 holidays. Jill’s husband described in a June 2020 interview how the couple has been “restricted” from visiting her parents’ Arkansas compound, where so much of 19 Kids And Counting and Counting On was filmed. Jill and Derick left the series that made the family so popular in 2017. And it appears they don’t have any plans to return to the show.
“We will not go back on the show under the circumstances that we were under at the time that we left,” Derick shared with the couple’s fans. “Meaning just as a family, we have to be able to make decisions that allow us to navigate our lives and have the information and control so that we know whether or not we can even plan anything.”
Jill completely agreed, adding that “right now we have no plans to join back into the show or anything. We don’t regret leaving the show. We feel like it was the best thing for our family.” Jill and Derick married in 2014 and share two sons — Israel, 5, and Samuel, 3.