She’s Baaack! Jill Duggar Returns to ‘Counting On’ for Jessa’s Ivy Jane Birth Special
She’s back on the small screen. Jill Duggar plays a major role in her sister Jessa Duggar’s birth special — in which she gives birth to daughter Ivy Jane — which fans can now watch on TLC’s website. Counting On followers may be shocked to see the Duggar daughter there because she hasn’t been on the show in a long time.
In the special, Jill, 28, not only assists 26-year-old Jessa’s midwife, but she films much of the birth and narrates some of the proceedings. She even gets Jessa’s husband, Ben Seewald, to admit on camera for the first time that they’ve welcomed a baby girl. Her inclusion is very interesting indeed, because after her husband, Derick Dillard, got himself fired as a cast member on the 19 Kids and Counting spin-off, he tweeted that he was taking his family off the air as well.
“For the record, I was never fired,” Derick, 30, wrote on Twitter in December 2017. “I just felt it best for my family to cut ties months ago, as we are heading in a different direction.” However, TLC wrote in a statement that November, “We want to let our viewers know that Derick Dillard has not participated in Counting On for months and the network has no plans to feature him in the future.” The network cut ties with Jill’s husband after he doubled down on transphobic comments he made towards Jazz Jennings, the 18-year-old transgender activist who stars on the TLC series I Am Jazz. Jill and her sons, Israel and Samuel Dillard, haven’t really been featured on the show since that all went down, but there’s a chance that’s changing.
Do you think only Jill will return to Counting On? It seems like Derick is still persona non grata with the network and the series, but maybe the family has decided Jill and her kids can start showing up again after all. Or maybe the birth special was a one-off and Jill will still have to make a living as an Instagram influencer. Fans will have to pay close attention to future episodes to find out.
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