Jill Duggar is not alone.
The former reality star released a revealing memoir this week, alerting readers to all the ways in which her parents are basically awful people via the book “Counting the Cost.”
And while Jill has granted a number of outlets a number of interviews in the wake of this release — in order to promote the memoir and shed light on the dangerous practices of her family’s religion — very few alleged loved ones have stepped up to show her support.
Until now.
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“Jill’s a brave girl. And I think that her coming out and telling her story … I’m so glad that she’s found her voice and I love and support her,” Jinger Duggar said while appearing on the Tamron Hall Show on Tuesday, September 12.
She did so alongside her husband, Jeremy Vuolo.
Added Jinger during this sit-down:
“I know that is the hardest thing to do.”
Jill has written extensively about her parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, noting how they protected her law-breaking brother to a sick extent…
… and saying she feared at one point that she’d be taken away as a child by authorities.
Jinger, meanwhile, previously released her own memoir (“Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear”) about her experience with the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP).
“Having just gone through that process, even, I don’t know if it would be a smaller scale, maybe,” she told Hall on air.
“We are sharing our stories in even different ways, but I am just so glad that she is finding her voice and able to communicate what’s been on her heart for so many years.”
Jinger added on this talk show that she didn’t speak to Jill very much during the latter’s work on her book.
In June, Jinger appeared to shade Jill after Jill laid into the pair’s parents as part of the Amazon Prime Video documentary Shiny Happy People.
“I was actually approached and asked to participate in the docuseries, but I thought that from my perspective, I really wanted to make sure that I was able to share my story in my own words and in my own timing,” Jinger told People Magazine at the time.
“That’s why I wrote Becoming Free Indeed, was to share more of my journey out of IBLP’s teachings. I wanted to be able to share it in a way that was, like, God-honoring and hopefully sharing my story in a balanced way.”
As for Jill’s claims about her dad? More specifically, how Jill has said Jim Bob defended Josh Duggar at all costs amid Josh’s molestation scandal?
“It’s so heartbreaking just to hear even what she shared of her own experience,” Jinger said to Hall.
“These family things are so hard and they really rip you to the core.”
Jim Bob and Michelle have released this statement in response to their daughter’s memoir:
We love all of our children very much. As with any family, few things are more painful than conflicts or problems among those you love.
We do not believe the best way to resolve conflicts, facilitate forgiveness and reconciliation, or to communicate through difficulties is through the media or in a public forum so we will not comment.