Jill Duggar Says She Distanced Herself From Family After She Was Told What She Could and Couldn't Do

Jill Duggar in 2014
D Dipasupil/Getty Images for Extra

The former reality star first revealed her problems with her family earlier this month.

Jill Duggar is opening up about her rift with her family. The 29-year-old former reality star and her husband, Derick Dillard, reveal that lack of control over their lives is the primary reason for creating distance from the extended Duggar clan. 

"Our control to choose what jobs we were allowed to accept and even where we were allowed to live was taken away from us," Jill tells People.

"The first few years of our marriage, we spent time and money working towards opportunities only to hit a dead end when we'd be told, 'Well, you're not allowed to do that,'" Derick adds.

Jill notes that her and Derick's decision to depart TLC's Counting On in 2017 "didn't go over very well with anyone," but "by that point we'd had enough."

"We knew we had to pull out completely to reevaluate and get our bearings," Jill says.

Since distancing herself from her conservative family, Jill has publicly gone against some of their well-known rules by having alcohol, getting a nose ring and wearing jeans.

"Sometimes, it's a good thing being OK with other people not being OK," she explains. "I never expected this to happen or for it to get to this point, but I'm realizing I can't put a timeline on healing. I love my family and they love me. I really just have to follow God's lead and take it one day at a time."

In a statement to the outlet, Jill's parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, said, "Every family has differences of opinion and perspective at times, but families work things out."

"We all love Jill, Derick, and their boys very much," the couple added of Jill and Derick's two sons, Israel, 5, and Samuel, 3. "It is our prayer that our relationship is healed and fully restored quickly!"

Jill first revealed that she's "not on the best terms" with her family in a video posted to YouTube earlier this month. While Jill wouldn't expand on the situation, she did note, "we’re having to kind of just take some time and heal."

Derick also noted that he and Jill would not return to reality TV with the Duggars "under the circumstances that we were under at the time that we left."

"Right now we have no plans to join back into the show or anything," Jill added. "We don’t regret leaving the show. We feel like it was the best thing for our family."

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