Jill (Duggar) Dillard isn't as close-knit with her family as she once was.
In a new Q&A video posted on YouTube on Wednesday morning, the former Counting On star and her husband Derick Dillard reveal there have been some big changes when it comes to her relationship with her family.
“There’s been some distancing there,” says Jill, 29. “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.”
She adds that while it’s been “difficult,” she hopes there can be a resolution.
“We’re doing what’s best for our family right now and just working through, it I guess," she says. “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.”
While Jill doesn’t reveal the reason behind the rift, she does address her and Derick’s exit from their TLC reality series in 2017. (Although their exit coincided with Derick's public criticism of fellow TLC star Jazz Jennings, a transgender activist, the backlash wasn't a factor in their decision.)
“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,” she says. “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.”
Still, Jill admits making the choice didn’t come easy. Prior to Counting On, (formerly Jill and Jessa: Counting On) which premiered five years ago, she starred on 19 Kids and Counting. The TLC series documented the lives of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and their children from 2008 until it was canceled in 2015.
After spending nearly a decade on television, “It was a good decision for us,” Jill says of her and her husband's departure from Counting On. “It was a really difficult decision, but something that we knew we needed to do for our family.”
As for the future, the couple — who share sons Samuel Scott, 3, and Israel David, 5 — have no plans to return to reality TV.
"We will not go back on the show under the circumstances that we were under at the time that we left," Derick says. "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."
Adds Jill: “Right now we have no plans to join back into the how or anything. We don’t regret leaving the show. We feel like it was the best thing for our family.”
“We have our lives back now," Derick says.
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