As Counting On alum Derick Dillard continues to speak out publicly against father-in-law Jim Bob Duggar, wife Jill (Duggar) Dillard is “trying to stay out of it” by refraining from commenting on social media, a source close to the former TLC personality told InTouch Weekly Thursday. While Jill would “rather her husband stayed quiet” as well, with his talk of a tell-all book, she reportedly knows that’s “not going to happen,” and is doing her best to simply stay neutral.
“It’s no secret that Jim Bob doesn’t approve of his son-in-law, but he does love his daughter Jill, and he will stand by her choices. Jill and her parents are on good terms. She chats with them all the time,” the insider explained. That hasn’t kept Derick from his plans to release a tell-all about his family’s time filming 19 Kids & Counting and Counting On, which he revealed in December with a social media comment.
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He certainly hasn’t been shy when it comes to speaking about his in-laws and filming experience even without a book. In a March interview with Without a Crystal Ball, he claimed, “We weren’t even allowed to be the first ones to announce our own life events — our marriage, expecting our baby, our genders of our children, our births — not by our own choice. If I had to do it all over again, I would’ve announced myself when we were expecting and things like that, even if I would’ve gotten in trouble.”
The law student has also been answering fan questions with apparent candor, writing in response to a person questioning why he filmed with TLC from the start in December, ” We were made to believe we didn’t have a choice and that we would be sued if we refused. However, once we became more enlightened, we realized that we could easily defend ourselves in against a lawsuit from the family/TLC. …We were pressured to think that we were required to and that we would get sued if we didn’t.”
The tension in the family appeared to be taking a toll on Jill’s relationship with her parents, with Derick writing at the time, “We’re not allowed in the house when [Jim Bob] isn’t there. Jill even has to ask [Jim Bob’s] permission to go over to the house to help her sister when she was in labor because her sister wanted help, but Jill couldn’t provide assistance until we got it cleared from JB.”
He also referenced Jill’s alleged molestation at the hands of brother Josh Duggar, continuing, “It’s not going to look good for TLC when it’s exposed that they pressured an abuse victim to continue filming when we tried to quit, just so they could continue with Jill & Jessa: Counting On after [19 Kids and Counting].”
