Jill Duggar Reveals '19 Kids and Counting' Caused 'a Lot of Frustration' in Her Marriage: 'It Definitely Got Between Us'
Jill Duggar Dillard got candid about the effect 19 Kids and Counting and their other TLC spinoffs had on her marriage.
The former reality star admitted that the show — and the issues that came up between herself and her father throughout the hit series — "caused a lot of frustration" in her relationship with husband Derick Dillard.
Jill said they felt the worst of it "early on" in their marriage whenever Derick would have reservations about the content they were filming.
"I'd be like, 'I hear you, I feel you, I also don't want to do whatever it is they're asking us to do either. But we have to,'" she said in a recent interview. "It definitely got between us."
Jill also revealed that her strict upbringing factored in to their marital struggles, clarifying that she felt obligated to respect what her parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, wanted them to do.
"No matter your age, you are to obey your parents wishes and you even have to ask them for their blessing for any major moment in your life," she explained. "That could be buying a house, moving to a different state, where to go to school."
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"We were dealing with this a lot when we were trying to make decisions for our family, and we were really wrestling back and forth with it," she added.
Derick further claimed that "whenever we were at odds with what her dad thought we should be doing with filming," Jim Bob would allegedly say "very damaging" things to them.
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"He would weaponize the relationship and say, 'Is this you Jill, or is this you, Derek? Are you leading your wife astray and doing things that are not supportive of marriage?'" he continued. "And I think that was a red flag."
"When I saw how it was affecting our marriage, I think that was another wake-up call for me," Jill pointed out. "It was like, okay, we need to either fight this battle together, or it's going to rip us apart. So yeah, we had to join forces at that point."
Jill and Derick spoke with People about their past relationship struggles.