Jill Duggar Dillard is not holding back in her upcoming book — especially when it comes to sharing details about her controversial family.
In an excerpt from her memoir Counting the Cost published by People on Saturday, the 32-year-old former reality star recalled a meeting she and her husband Derick Dillard had with her father Jim Bob Duggar and mom Michelle Duggar. And things got very intense during the chat!
After penning a candid letter to her parents regarding the family’s issues, she and Derick sat down with Jim Bob and Michelle in an attempt to heal the rift between them. They even brought along a mediator to keep the conversation productive and civil. However, the gathering turned about to be anything but.
Related: Jim Bob Drove A Wedge Between Jill & Husband Derick To Get What He Wanted!
During the meeting, Jill told the pair she wanted “to restore family relationships very soon” and “have a good discussion together” about the ‘hurtful things” that happened between them. Instead of hearing her out, Jim Bob had been enraged with the 19 Kids and Counting alum. He sat “very still, lips tight, eyes locked in a scowl” while Michelle brought up the letter, calling it “‘the most disrespectful thing I’ve ever read.’” Jill said she quickly apologized, adding:
“‘We love y’all and could’ve used more care. We wrote the letter together and had hoped it would help explain our feelings, but I know we kept adding to it and then we were tired and just figured we had better go ahead send it along…’”
But Jim Bob wasn’t done. He went on to demand an apology about a text message he received from Jill, where she accused him of being “verbally” abusive. His daughter wrote:
“I was nervous now. I remembered the message, remembered sending it in the hope that it might wake Pops up to how bad I felt things had gotten, to maybe make him give us a little space and let things calm down. I’d written about not wanting to be verbally abused, which was exactly how I’d felt at the time. I’d felt it in El Salvador as well. I wasn’t sure that I could apologize for that. I glanced at Derick as I remained speechless.”
Knowing he wasn’t getting an apology when the silence continued, Jim Bob allegedly stood up and took a step toward Jill in an “act of aggression.” She remembered:
“‘You’re not going to apologize? Really?’ His voice was loud, and there was an edge to it that I’d rarely heard. The moderator looked pale and was stuck on mute. Derick tensed, and I could feel him getting ready to step in. I squeezed his hand, hoping he’d get the message.”
Jill continued in the excerpt:
“He towered over me, his whole body fueled with anger. My face flushed red. My eyes filled with tears. Then there was a long, awful silence that I wanted to fill but just couldn’t yet. Derick’s hand was shaking in mine, and I squeezed as hard as I ever had, desperate for him to hold his tongue.”
As Jill cried and “curled up” in her seat, Jim Bob continued to scream. He claimed her emotional reaction at the time was because she felt “guilty” for her actions. At that point, Jill had enough. She fired back at her dad, accusing him of treating her “worse than” her “pedophile brother” Josh Duggar, who molested her and other siblings and is currently in prison on pornography charges. Jill wrote:
“‘You want to know why I’m crying?’ My voice was cracked, my eyes burning. ‘It’s that you think I’m some kind of horrible person just because I wear pants and have a nose ring, and yet you see that girl outside and praise her. That’s why I’m crying, Daddy. I’m evolving and changing, just like that girl out there, but you can’t see it. You treat me like I’m a prodigal who’s turned her back on you. You treat me worse than you treat my pedophile brother.’”
The fact that Jim Bob would treat Jill worse than her convicted pedophile brother is disgusting.
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[Image via MEGA/WENN, TLC/YouTube, Jill Duggar/Instagram]
