Jill Duggar is about to be front and center.
The former reality star agreed to an interview as part of the upcoming Amazon docuseries Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets, which delves into how the Institute in Basic Life Principles (founded by disgraced minister Bill Gothard) is a breeding ground for abusive behavior.
Specifically, abusive behavior toward women and children.
And, even more specifically, the kind of abusive behavior toward women and children displayed on numerous occasions by Jill’s brother, Josh Duggar.
Josh, of course, was accused of molesting five young girls — two of whom were his sisters — when he was teenager.
He also cheated on his wife with women he met via an adultery-themed website.
And the father of seven was ALSO convicted on two counts of possessing and receiving child pornography in December 2021.
He’s currently serving over 12 years behind federal bars.
“I believe strongly that victims should always be protected. Victims should always be cared for,” Jill says in this documentary.
“You’re out there, your story’s out there. … I’d rather have some say in what that looks like.”
Along these lines, Jill speaks on air about her parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, pushing her into the spotlight after news about Josh’s molestation allegations broke in early 2015.
She and sister Jessa sat down at one point with Megyn Kelly of Fox News… in order to burnish her family’s image, Jill says now.
“In hindsight, I wouldn’t have done the Megyn Kelly stuff,” Jill says in the special, according to The Los Angeles Times.
“I felt like I was in a place again of bearing the burden and the weight of just — even though you volunteer, it’s like you feel obligated to help.”
Derick Dillard, who had just welcomed a child with Jill at the time of the Kelly feature, said his spouse was “basically being called on to carry out a suicide mission” for the small screen future of her loved ones.
The chat, you see, was organized by Chad Gallaghe — who represented Jim Bob and Michelle and served as an advisor to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
The sisters downplayed their brother’s heinous actions with Kelly, as Jill even called the case “very mild.”
In Shiny Happy People she says, “It’s not something that I’m proud of,” adding:
“If I hadn’t felt obligated to like, one, do it for the sake of the show and two, do it for the sake of my parents, I wouldn’t have done it.
Yes, we were taken advantage of.
In a recent interview, a producer of this documentary said that Josh Duggar’s sordid history is merely the “tip of the iceberg” because this church operates like a dangerous cult.
For her part, Jill opens up more than ever about all the ways in which her parents exploited her and used her… all in the same of making money.
As another example?
Jill says her dad asked her to sign a document the day before she got married.
“I just saw the signature page. It was like on the end of the kitchen table — like, ‘Hey, I just needed you guys to sign these,’” Jill explains now.
“We were literally running through the kitchen, and it was like whoever you could grab on the way through. I didn’t know what it was for.”
Derick emphasizes that the contract Jim Bob presented to Jill “was a commitment of [our] life for the next five years to the show.”
Yes, you should always read something before you sign it.
But shouldn’t a father always look out for the best interests of his kids, too?
As part of this deal, Jill was obligated to record the birth of her son, Israel.
She says she then asked TLC to “pay us enough just to cover what our out-of-pocket costs were” for her son’s birth.
Instead, producers said they would pay the family, Derick says in the series.
Translation? The couple got nothing.
Elsewhere the Amazon Studios program, Jill claims she “never received any payout” for her many years of work on 19 Kids and Counting.
“No check, no cash, no nothing. For 7 ½ years of my adult life, I was never paid.”
The spouses exited the spinoff Counting On in 2017 and discussed their departure years later with a YouTube video posted in October 2020.
“Our family goals that we had for ourselves didn’t align with what we found out. … We ended up finding out we didn’t have as much control over our lives as it related to the show and stuff as we felt like we needed,” Jill said in the video.
“We had to make a decision at that time to put the show aside just to pursue our own goals.”
It doesn’t sound like Jill has any regrets, either.
“Eventually you start making your own decisions, like the nose ring that I got, and it’s piece by piece. Little by little till like [you] do what you need to survive,” she says on air.
Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets premieres Friday, June 2 on Prime Video.
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