In an ironic twist worthy of M. Night Shyamalan, the new Amazon Prime Video documentary Shiny Happy People has shines a light on some very unhappy people.
The doc focuses on the many scandals of the Duggar family, and the ways in which the clan was influenced and manipulated by the cult-like Institute for Basic Life Principles.
Many former IBLP members are featured in the series, but producers’ biggest “get” was undoubtedly Jim Bob and Michelle’s estranged daughter Jill and her husband, Derick Dillard.
In heartbreaking interview segments, Jill revealed that her parents forced her to give birth on camera and coerced her into publicly defending brother Josh Duggar after he molested her.
Some viewers were shocked that Jill spoke out against her parents.
Others were surprised that she was the only one of Jim Bob and Michelle’s 19 kids who was willing to share her story.’
The most glaring absence was that of Jinger Duggar, who previously enjoyed a reputation as her family’s most outspoken rebel.
In a recent interview with People magazine, Jinger explained that she was approached to appear in the documentary, but she didn’t feel that that was the best platform for her talk about upbringing.
“I was actually approached and asked to participate in the docuseries, but I thought that from my perspective, I really wanted to make sure that I was able to share my story in my own words and in my own timing,” she said.
“So that’s why I wrote Becoming Free Indeed, was to share more of my journey out of IBLP’s teachings. I wanted to be able to share it in a way that was, like, God-honoring and hopefully sharing my story in a balanced way.”
Jinger published a memoir in January, and while the book enjoyed robust sales, some readers were disappointed by the fact that the author went easy on her terrible parents.
Jill is publishing a memoir of her own next year, and insiders say the book offer a more candid portrait of life inside the Duggar compound.
Perhaps anticipating that outsiders would sense a bit of bad blood between the sisters, Jinger said she has not yet watched Shiny Happy People, but has “had heard a little bit” about from Jill.
“And I am excited to hear what she has to say, even in this documentary,” Jinger said, clearly throwing a bit of shade at the Amazon doc.
“The reason I decided to write Becoming Free Indeed in a book form was because I thought, ‘I want this to be my story in a book form because then whenever people are trying to work through this stuff, they can go back and highlight,’ and [go], ‘Oh, she was struggling with this too,” Jinger added.
“This is how Jinger kind of walked through it.’”
Clearly, Jinger has a high estimation of her own importance, but it’s worth pointing out that less than a week after its released Shiny Happy People has been watched by several times the number of people who have purchased Becoming Free Indeed.
So if Jinger’s goal was to help the largest number of people, well …
Anyway, it’s up to Jinger to decide how she wants to tell her story.
We just hope her ego won’t be bruised when her book gets permanently overshadowed by Jill’s!
Jinger Duggar Shades Jill: I Don’t Bash My Parents In Documentaries Because I … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.