Michelle Duggar Reveals Why She Cropped Daughter Jill out of Family Photo

Counting On fans were quick to point out that Michelle Duggar cropped daughter Jill (Duggar) Dillard out of a family photo amid the recent feuding between husband Jim Bob Duggar and son-in-law Derick Dillard. In one photo from a baby shower for Joy-Anna (Duggar) Forsyth, who is expecting her second child with husband Austin Forsyth, Jill can be spotted in the back, standing next to her mother. Still, in another group shot, followers noticed only her shoes were visible in the lower corner after being cropped out.

“Several weeks ago we were able to celebrate Joy and Austin and their precious baby on the way!” Michelle captioned the pictures. “We are rejoicing in God’s gift of this little girl that He has graciously given their family. We can’t wait to meet her soon!!” One follower took to the comments to ask, “Where is Jill?” at which point the Duggar matriarch responded, “You can only fit so many in a square photo! Wanted to include some of the grandkids too!”

Plenty of Michelle’s followers were quick to defend the crop, with one person writing, “Jill is in the first picture, the last picture is a different group of girls – Anna and her girls are in that one but not the first one – please don’t create something out of nothing.” Another theorized that because Jill was wearing shorts in photos posted by other family members, she might have been cropped out to avoid violating the famous Duggar dress code. “Jill’s attire is pretty much hidden in the first photo by having sisters in front of her,” the person wrote. “They had to crop her out of the latter photo because her outfit was probably much more visible…and in violation of Duggar standards.”

Another theory was that Dillard’s ongoing bashing of his wife’s family has created tension that is now affecting Jill’s relationship with her mother. For the past several months, Dillard has accused Jim Bob of threatening and humiliating him and his wife before their 2017 exit from the TLC show, as well as claiming the Duggar kids are not paid to appear on Counting On. Dillard has hinted at writing a tell-all book about the Duggar family, but in the meantime has not held back on Instagram when asked about his time on the reality show. In December, he alleged, “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.”