For years, critics of the Duggar family have quietly hoped that one of Jim Bob and Michelle's many children would break away from the beliefs and traditions that their parents hold so dear.
For the Duggars, life is structured around rules, and those who deviate from the norm are subject to being cast out of the family and left to fend for themselves.
As we've discussed in the past, the Duggar children receive a homeschool education that leaves them wholly unprepared to compete in the modern job market.
Most of Jim Bob's kids have failed to succeed as adults and remain reliant upon him well into their twenties and thirties.
Several Duggar kids have rebelled in small ways, such as violating the family dress code or marrying partners that Jim Bob doesn't entirely approve of.
But no Duggar has broken from her family's guidelines as thoroughly and completely as Jill Duggar.
The split came as a surprise to longtime fans of the family, as for several years, no one seemed more eager to follow in her parents' footsteps than Jill.
She married young, promptly started a family, and devoted herself fully to the raising of her two boys.
These days, however, Jill and husband Derick Dillard reportedly have no contact with her parents.
This is primarily due to a feud between Derick and Jim Bob over money, specifically wages that were paid to the Duggar kids by TLC and allegedly pocketed by Jim Bob.
The Dillards no longer work for the network, and Derick earns a living a s Grub Hub driver, which may be why Jill's husband feels comfortable calling out his father-in-law publicly.
Whatever the case, fans are finally getting their wish -- one of the Duggar children is living an independent life completely free of her parents' considerable influence.
Jill hasn't taken to social media to boast about her newfound freedom the way some fans might have hoped.
But in a number of subtle ways, she's made it clear that she's no longer living a lifestyle that her parents would approve of.
For starters, the infamous Duggar dress code no longer plays a role in Jill's life.
The woman who once gave speeches to girls' organizations about the crucial importance of "modest attire" now wears shorts and other items of clothing that were denied to her during her childhood.
More importantly, Jill has enrolled her eldest son in kindergarten, thus breaking with the long family tradition of homeschooling.
We don't know what her parents think of the move, and Jill probably doesn't either, as she's reportedly no longer in contact with her parents.
But on Instagram, Jill's fundamentalist followers have made their disappointment abundantly clear.
"Public schools are indoctrination centers for evil. I call them farms for the elite,” wrote one such critic.
“Please don’t send your children to public school! Homeschool them."
The Dillards were not in attendance at any of the holiday festivities hosted by Jill's parents last year, and we have no way of knowing when they last communicated.
Jill and Derick remain fundamentalist Christians, but the many ways in which Jill has rejected the specifics of her upbringing have no doubt deepened the division between the mother of two and her own parents.
Derick has threatened to sue Jim Bob for money he says is owed to him, so it's possible the Duggars and the Dillards will soon square off in court.
But other than that, we think it's safe to say you won't be seeing them in public together anytime soon.
