Everything We Learned From Derick Dillard's Interview About The Duggars

Derick Dillard, the controversial husband of Jill Duggar Dillard, recently gave an interview and revealed just what he thinks of some of the Duggar family's rules. The interview was conducted by YouTuber Without A Crystal Ball who sent Dillard a set of questions and read his responses out loud on her channel.

While none of the revelations are particularly shocking, they do confirm that Dillard — who has been saying that he has plans to write a tell-all book about the Duggar family — is not a fan of the Duggars, especially his father-in-law, Jim Bob. According to The Hollywood Gossip, one of Dillard's previous accusations against his father-in-law was that he and his wife were never given any money for appearing on Counting On as the Duggar patriarch kept all of it. He also claimed that his father-in-law won't let Jill over to the Duggar home without asking for permission first.

In the interview, Dillard pushed back against some of the Duggar family rules, such as the one about modesty which has resulted in most of the Duggar women wearing skirts all the time. "I don't think it's wrong for girls to wear pants, get piercings, or have short hair," he said. Dillard revealed that his own mother wears pants "while maintaining modesty."

He also said that, unlike his in-laws, he has no problem with booze. "I don't think it's a sin to drink alcohol, but it's still illegal under the age of 21, so I will always encourage my kids not to break the law and they will have to decide where they stand on it after that," said Dillard, although he added that he doesn't believe it's acceptable to get drunk.

Dillard also opened up about the decision to send his oldest son, Israel, to public school — something that is a break from tradition as the Duggars are traditionally homeschooled. "We have been open to both homeschooling and public schooling," he said. "There's no specific reason other than we feel this is the right thing to do with our season in life."

The former Counting On star said that he and his wife aren't "bitter" about how they were raised, but they are nowhere near as conservative as their parents are. While his in-laws, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, have ties to the Christian group IBLP, Dillard said that he is not remotely involved with the organization. "The Bible is our ultimate authority," he said.

Perhaps the most shocking part of the interview is Dillard's revelation that he and his wife had very little control over their lives while on Counting On. Dillard said that he and Jill did not get to choose when to announce things like "our marriage, expecting our baby, the genders of our children, our births." 

He added, "If I had to do it all over again, I would have announced myself when we were expecting and things like that, even if I would have gotten in trouble."