For several weeks now, the Amazon Prime documentary Shiny Happy People has dominated the discourse in the Duggar-obsessed corners of social media.
The film featured revelations about the bizarre beliefs of Jim Bob Duggar and the sinister teachings of the Institute in Basic Life Principles that might have surprised even longtime Duggar obsessives.
The renewed focus on Jim Bob’s bonkers child-rearing practices made for an interesting Father’s Day on Instagram.
James Duggar sang Jim Bob’s praises, and many felt that he threw some shade in the direction of Jill Duggar with his comments.
Jill was the only one of Jim Bob’s children who agreed to be interviewed on camera for Shiny Happy People, and she provided some of the film’s most harrowing segments.
At one point, Jill revealed that she was forced to give birth on camera for her family’s reality show.
She added that she was later coerced into publicly defending Josh Duggar, the older brother who molested her.
Now, she’s at the center of a new controversy, thanks to a very unexpected conversation that took place in the comments on James’ Fathers’ Day post.
“I think you mean Happy Father’s Day Jill. Your parents did not raise you,” one commenter wrote.
It was a reference to the Duggars’ habit of having elder siblings assist with the raising of younger ones.
Essentially, Jim Bob and Michelle’s daughters are forced to become live-in nannies at a young age, and many believe that the reason Jana Duggar still lives at home is so that she can continue to help her parents with their massive brood.
Anyway, the remark didn’t sit well with Hilary Spivey, who is the mother of Justin Duggar’s wife, Claire.
“Oh my goodness I had no idea you were there!! Never saw you on the show!” Hilary snarkily replied to the comment.
“Oh I’m sorry. I never seen you either? So you clearly know everything?” the commenter shot back.
“We’ve known them for 23 years,” Hilary responded, prompting the original commenter to remark:
“Cool. You weren’t on the show though. So move along.”
Yeah, “you weren’t on the show, so you couldn’t possibly know anything” is sort of a weird argument from someone who … also wasn’t on “the show.”
But things quickly got even weirder, as Hilary revealed that she’s really worked up about this situation.
“You don’t know that if Jill really raised James based on a scripted TV show for drama purposes only and some of the Dugger kids do love their dad in a normal world so do you know them personally in real life face to face,” she wrote (and yes, she really misspelled “Duggar”).
“JAMES doesn’t care what you think anyway and I hope your not spreading false information.”
“And yet you let your daughter marry into a family that covered up the SA of their daughters and never sought treatment for the trauma that they endured,” argued the commenter.
“A father who lied on the stand and said he couldn’t recall facts about said time even though he was on Fox News talking about it. Are you serious?”
Realizing that she was way out of her depth, Hilary side-stepped the many Duggar sex scandals and lamely retreated.
“Claire’s marriage has nothing to do with any of that,” she replied.
That may be, Hilary, but Jim Bob had everything to do with the situation, and he’s the one you’re defending here.
Probably best to let the man fight his own battles, or you’re likely to find yourself in more of these uncomfortable situations! Just sayin’!
Jill Duggar: Blasted By Claire Spivey’s Mom In Latest Family Feud! was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.