Jim Bob And Michelle Duggar Share Their Thoughts On Jill Leaving Counting On

Since Jill Duggar and her family quit TLC's 19 Kids and Counting in 2017, she's become a black sheep in the ultra-conservative Christian family. For starters, Jill Duggar has cut her hair ("it was so heavy and it was giving me headaches, she explained on the Dillard Family's official Youtube channel), put on a pair of pants ("the first time I wore pants was to an amusement park"), and pierced her nose ("I kind of always thought [nose piercings] were cute," she explained). Also, this just in, Jill Duggar and her husband, Derick Dillard are "not against tattoos," and the couple has admitted to using birth control, a practice that is strictly forbidden in the Duggar family.   

In case anyone had lingering doubts, Jill and Derick recently told People that they left 19 Kids and Counting to reclaim control over their own lives. "We'd had enough," Jill said, "We knew we had to pull out completely to reevaluate and get our bearings." Since the split, Duggar family drama has reigned supreme. In July 2020 Michelle Duggar made headlines for cropping Jill out of a family photo (via The Sun). Jill's husband, Derick, meanwhile blew up gossip columns in April 2020 when he accused Jim Bob of pocketing his kid's TLC earnings (via The Hollywood Gossip). Where does that leave Jim Bob and Michelle's relationship with Jill and Derick?

"Every family has differences of opinion and perspective at times, but families work things out," Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar said in pre-prepared statement People, "We all love Jill, Derick, and their boys very much. It is our prayer that our relationship is healed and fully restored quickly!" Jill has also expressed her eagerness to reconcile with her family, but doesn't seem as eager to patch things up as "quickly" as her parents. "I'm realizing I can't put a timeline on healing," Jill reflected, "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."

What, exactly, a 'healed and fully restored" relationship means for Jim Bob and Michelle is at this point, unclear. And with Derick catching The Sun's attention for Instagram comments in which he expresses his wishes for other Duggar Siblings to "break free" from Jim Bob's "control," it's hard to imagine what the path to a tension-free relationship might look like.