In recent months, we’ve learned an awful lot about Jill Duggar’s complicated relationship with her parents, Jim Bob and Michelle.
Most of the revelations have come from Jill’s bestselling memoir, which hit stores back in September.
The book offered a candid look at the Duggar’s unorthodox belief system and the hyper-strict fashion in which Jill and her 18 siblings were raised.
Not surprisingly, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar loudly objected to the manner in which they were portrayed in their daughter’s memoir.
We’re sure it pained Jill to be publicly denigrated as a liar by the people who raised her, but to her credit, she has not backed down or wavered on the details of her story.
In fact, in promoting the book, she’s shared more shocking anecdotes about her difficult upbringing and her strained relationship with her parents.
Most recently, Jill appeared on Dr. Julie Hanks’ podcast, where she discussed, among other things, her decision not to follow in her mother’s footsteps by birthing a small army.
“In the book, I talk about the shift of going from feeling that pressure, being okay with having a lot of children, in that belief system that I grew up in,” Jill said.
“To then having the shift of being like, do I trust in God with the number of children that I’m supposed to have, could also mean trusting Him if he doesn’t give us 20 kids,” she continued.
“Am I being punished for my lack of desire of having 20 kids? All those mind games that you play,” Jill’s husband, Derick Dillard, chimed in.
“Another toxic aspect of this culture. There’s also a sense of hierarchy that you’re less than if you have less kids,” he explained.
“But even your parents have said: ‘Whoever has the most kids gets the house.’
Jill claimed that her folks were “half-joking” with that remark, but there’s no doubt that remark caught some of her sibling’s attention.
From there, Jill recalled the moment when she first told her father about her struggles with fertility.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to have any more kids,” she told Jim Bob.
“My Dad pipes up. ‘We don’t really know do we know?’ He’s trying to control the situation,” Jill recalled.
“It was frustrating to me in that moment. This idea still that he was a gatekeeper for our information,” Derick remarked.
“We don’t know that yet. Let’s be careful what we say to other people,” Jim Bob allegedly said in response to his daughter’s news.
“To whatever extent we want to share with people, we’re going to share with people,” Derick said to Jim Bob.
Jill explained that her parents seemed to “think there was this boundary line that we didn’t have in place,” and that the situation necessitated parental intervention.
Needless so say, Jill and Derick didn’t share that view.
These days, Jill is not on speaking terms with her parents, and she seems pessimistic about the possibility that she’ll ever see eye-to-eye with them.
We’re sure the separation is painful at times, but it’s clearly for the best.
Jill Duggar: My Father Is Angry at Me For Not Having 20 Kids was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.