Former “19 Kids and Counting” star Jill Duggar is opening up about the broken relationship between her and her famous family on TV.
In October, Jill, the 29-year-old daughter of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar, admitted that she was “distancing” from her family because they “were not in the best condition” at the time.
In a new question and answer session on her and her husband’s YouTube channel, Derick Dillard, Jill confirmed that there is still a lot of physical distance between her and her parents, since she hasn’t made a trip to their home in Arkansas – known as the “big house” – two years from now.
“We haven’t been there in a while, probably a couple of years, except once, like, to check the email,” Jill revealed in a March 21 video.
JILL DUGGAR SAYS HE IS ‘DISTANCING’ FROM THE FAMILY: ‘WE ARE NOT ON THE BEST TERMS’
Jill did not specifically detail why the couple’s distance from their growing family, but noted that the current “season of life” they are in focuses on prioritizing “our mental, emotional and all of that”.
“Our threshold – as we like to call it – is a little slower at this time of life for us, with a lot going on in our own lives,” she said.
Derick also commented on the couple’s distance from Michelle and Jim Bob’s residence, saying there are “many triggers there”.
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Of course, the past year has caused physical distance for many families around the world due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Jill said that this also played a role.
“In addition, COVID makes it a lot more difficult now, trying to keep our circles smaller and everything. We would like it not to stay that way, but that’s where we are now,” she added.
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In October, Jill confirmed that there were “some disagreements” between the family. Still, Jill hoped that there would be room for some solution in the future.
Jill and Derick Dillard have not visited the home of their parents, Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar, in two years.
(Discovery)
“We are doing what is best for our family now and just working on it, I think,” she said. “We are praying and trusting God that the timeline will be his and how it is and everything. So we definitely appreciate your prayers and don’t want to go into details.”
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Jill’s apparent feud with her family comes years after she and Derick left the popular TLC series “Counting On”, which followed the lives of Duggar’s older children and their spouses. The former Duggar family program, “19 Kids and Counting,” was notoriously canceled after it was revealed that Jill’s older brother Josh Duggar had molested five younger women, including four of his sisters, years ago. Josh previously admitted to touching the girls inappropriately.
Talking about Jill and Derick’s departure from the series in October, the mother of two recalled: “We left the program three years ago because, basically, our family goals we had for ourselves did not align with what we discovered. We ended up finding out that we didn’t have as much control over our lives in relation to the program and other things as we thought we needed. At that time, we had to make the decision to leave the program alone just to pursue our goals. “
In November 2017, TLC severed its ties to Derick after he repeatedly made negative comments about one of the other stars on the network, Jazz Jennings. Jill called her and Derick’s departure from “Counting On” “was a good decision for us.”
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“It was a very difficult decision, but something we knew we needed to do for our family,” she said at the time.
Jill and Derick have two children, Israel, 5, and Samuel, 3.
Julius Young of Fox News contributed to this report.