‘Counting On’: Jill Duggar Reveals She Initially Kept Courtship With Derick Dillard Secret

Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard tied the knot in June 2014 after the two met in Nepal, shortly after Dillard received permission from her father to being courting Duggar. The Counting On star revealed on Sunday that she originally kept their courtship secret until they were actually married.

“Fun fact,” Duggar began her post, “because Derick was in Nepal and I was in [Arkansas] for most of our relationship prior to engagement, we didn’t officially announce our ‘courtship’ until we were already engaged! Today marks 7 years since Derick asked me to be his girlfriend.” It was seven years ago when the two got married in front of their family in Arkansas where the two shared their first kiss together during their vows. The two began their courtship when they were 25-years-old.

Back when they walked down the aisle in 2014, Duggar, who recently called out “Karens,” told PEOPLE that having that first embrace together “makes it more special” after waiting to do so, adding that saving the physical side of a relationship means they could have “no regrets” when taking that next step in their life.

Dillard recently joked about this during one of their YouTube streams. A fan asked them why members of the Duggar family marry at a young age, a question that was prompted after Jill’s brother, Justin, got engaged to Claire Spivey at the age of 18 and 19, respectively. That’s when Dillard gave his playful response to the question about marrying young, “Because we want to have sex.”

In an interview with PEOPLE in October, Duggar shared some details about why she and Dillard have grown a part of her family. After originally being a part of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting from 2008 to 2015, Duggar has continued to distance herself from her family because of a lack of control. The two, especially Dillard who is in his final year of law school, explained that they grew tired of coming to a roadblock from the family due to them saying they would not be allowed to be do something as a result of the family’s ultra-conservative and religious beliefs. Duggar admitted the split wasn’t a smooth transition, “It didn’t go over well with anyone.” That being said, she said they wouldn’t have done anything differently because they had had enough of dealing with their family’s expectations.