Jill Duggar Defends Husband Derick Dillard Amid Claim He’s Stealing Her ‘Spotlight’

Counting On alum Jill (Duggar) Dillard replied to fans who criticized her for allowing her husband, Derick Dillard, to take the spotlight away from her. “This is your book and your story, why your husband is on the cover and looks more important than you? [sic]” commented one follower after Jill, 31, shared behind-the-scenes footage from the photoshoot she participated in for the cover of her upcoming book, Counting the Cost. As the ex-reality star replied, “Because without him (@derickdillard) my story would be very different. He’s my biggest support. It’s about our journey together as a couple.” While some followers agreed with the user in the comments section, others defended the 19 Kids & Counting alum, saying, “I see a man holding his wife in protection and love. I can understand your perspective, but this is genuinely what I see when I look at the cover.” In response to this supporter’s comment, Jill replied, “100%.”

One day before their appearance on Prime Video’s Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets documentary, the Arkansas-based couple announced they would release a memoir. “Derick and I would like to announce that we have written a book, Counting The Cost, which details our painful journey as part of the reality-show-filming Duggar family,” read their Instagram announcement. “As the picture on the cover conveys, the book is meant to reflect a story that has been difficult, yet hopeful. The challenges we have faced, including lack of respect for boundaries, greed, manipulation, and betrayal, are not that much different than what many people in our audience have faced.” They added, “However, 15+ years of reality television, undergirded by secrecy and lies, is tantamount to pouring gasoline on the fire of our struggle.” “Thanks to time, tears, truth, and therapy, God has begun to heal our wounds into scars. Though we would have never chosen this path, and it has cost us dearly, we want to use our voice to show others that there is hope beyond the pain,” their statement concluded. 

Originally scheduled to be released in January 2024, the memoir co-written by Craig Borlase has been moved up to September 12, 2023, because of “overwhelming support and interest in [their] story.” Following their marriage in 2014, Derick and Jill began separating themselves from her famous family and later admitted in a March 2021 YouTube video that they hadn’t been to Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s house “in a couple of years.” According to her, there are “a lot of triggers” at her parents’ home and “restrictions,” adding that they “have to prioritize our mental [and] emotional health and all that.” “Our threshold — as we like to call it — is just a little bit lower in this season of life for us,” she continued. “We have a lot going on in our own life, plus COVID just makes it a lot harder right now with trying to keep our circle smaller and everything.”