Jill Duggar Gives Update on ‘Complicated’ Relationship With Parents Jim Bob and Michelle

Jill Dillard (née Duggar) shared an update about where she stands with parents Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar amid their estrangement.

While participating in a Q&A via Instagram on November 2, one fan asked Jill, 33, what her relationship with Jim Bob, 59, and Michelle, 58, is like today following years of issues.

She said that their relationship was “complicated,” adding, “I feel like we are in a rebuilding phase now with healthy boundaries still in place.”

“We try to hang out whenever it works well and we have the bandwidth to navigate things,” Jill concluded while adding a pink heart emoji.

Jill’s issues with Jim Bob and Michelle first came to light when she and her husband, Derick Dillard, left her family’s show Counting On in 2017. After the couple stepped away from the TLC show, Jill started rebelling against her parents by breaking the strict rules they forced her to follow during her childhood.

The former reality star opened up about her complex relationship with her parents in her September 2023 memoir, Counting the Cost, which she wrote alongside Derick, 35, and Craig Borlase. Some of their issues included her and Derick not being paid fairly for appearing on the reality TV show, as well as her decision to step away from the religious organization the Institute in Basic Life Principles.

Despite having plenty of issues with Jim Bob and Michelle, Jill concluded the book by sharing a hopeful message that they can work through their problems.

Days before the book was released, the Duggar parents issued a statement about Jill’s project. “We love all of our children very much. As with any family, few things are more painful than conflicts or problems among those you love,” they said in a statement to People. “We do not believe the best way to resolve conflicts, facilitate forgiveness and reconciliation, or to communicate through difficulties is through the media or in a public forum so we will not comment.”

Not only did Jil detail their estrangement in her book, but she also opened up about the situation while appearing in the June 2023 Prime Video docuseries Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets.

“My dad does control a lot of things in the family,” she said at the time. “Family relationships were already kinda rocky … Everything within the family dynamic has shifted, and not for the better.”

In October 2020, Jill revealed that she was “distancing” herself from her family and said she was not “on the best terms” with some of the Duggars in a YouTube video.

“We’ve had some disagreements and stuff, but we’re working towards healing definitely and restoration. We’re having to kind of just take some time and heal and just doing what’s best for our family right now,” she said. “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 too much.”