Jill Duggar Says She’s ‘Distancing’ Herself From Her Family: ‘We’re Not on the Best Terms’

Jill (Duggar) Dillard is “not on the best terms” with some of her family. The former Counting On star and husband Derick Dillard addressed long-running rumors that they are estranged from the Duggars in a new Q&A video posted on YouTube on Wednesday morning, admitting they were hoping for resolution eventually.

“There’s been some distancing there,” Jill said of her side of the family. “We’re not on the best terms with some of my family. We’ve had some disagreements, but we’re working towards healing definitely and restoration, but we’re having to kind of just take some time and heal.” The former TLC personality said while it has been “difficult” to have a more complicated relationship with her family, she is praying for resolution.

“We’re doing what’s best for our family right now and just working through it, I guess,” she explained. “We are praying and trusting God that like the timeline is his and what that looks like and everything. So we definitely appreciate your prayers, and we don’t want to go into detail.”

Jill didn’t go into what caused her distance from her family but addressed her immediate family’s exit from Counting On in 2017, which coincided with transphobic comments Derick made about I Am Jazz star Jazz Jennings. “We left the show three years ago because basically our family goals that we had for ourselves didn’t align with what we found out,” Jill said. “We ended up finding out that we didn’t have as much control over our lives as it related to the show and stuff as we felt like we needed. We had to make a decision at that time to kind of put the show aside just to pursue our own goals.”

The couple, who are parents to sons Samuel, 3, and Israel, 5, said they have no plans to rejoin their family on TV even if things are repaired in their personal relationship. “We will not go back on the show under the circumstances that we were under at the time that we left,” Derick said. “Meaning just as a family, we have to be able to make decisions that allow us to navigate our lives and have the information and control so that we know whether or not we can even plan anything.” Jill added that she has no “regret” for leaving the show behind as Derick concluded, “We have our lives back now.”