Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar Speak Out Amid Jill’s Family Revelations: We Pray ‘Our Relationship Is Healed’

Will time heal all wounds? Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar spoke out amid daughter Jill Dillard (née Duggar)’s revelations about their family drama and said it would bring them great joy to be close again.

“Every family has differences of opinion and perspective at times, but families work things out,” the reality TV couple told People in a statement on Wednesday, October 21. “We all love Jill, Derick [Dillard], and their boys very much. It is our prayer that our relationship is healed and fully restored quickly!”

Jill, 29, opened up about her estranged relationship with her parents following her and husband Derick’s departure from the brood’s TLC series Counting On in a bombshell new tell-all interview. The Arkansas resident and her spouse, 31, quit the show in 2017 and are now detailing how they felt overwhelmed by the expectations of her conservative and religious relatives. 

“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 shared, revealing how they felt pressured to comply with the network or her family’s plans no matter what. 

Derick said they faced a lot of roadblocks in the past that were very frustrating. “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,'” the father of two added about the restrictions they faced. 

After appearing on the Duggar family’s original show, 19 Kids and Counting, and later returning for the spinoff, Jill said she and Derick got a less-than-desirable reaction when they revealed their plans to walk away from Counting On.  

“It didn’t go over very well with anyone,” she confessed. “By that point we’d had enough. We knew we had to pull out completely to reevaluate and get our bearings.”

“I never expected this to happen or for it to get to this point,” Jill admitted. “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 the meantime, Jill is enjoying making her own rules with her husband by her side. The former TV personality, who is the proud mother of Israel, 5, and Samuel, 3, now wears ripped jeans, has a nose piercing and rocks modern bathing suits.