As 2023 comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on all the revelations about the Duggar family that were brought to light.
Between Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets and Jill Duggar’s book, Counting The Cost, it was a year filled with exposing the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) and the abuse the religion allowed.
Jinger Duggar and her big sister, Jill, talked about walking away from the IBLP, but the latter also addressed some of the situations between herself and her parents.
Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar denounced the docuseries, but Jill and her husband, Derick Dillard, participated. Her cousin, Amy Duggar King, and her aunt, Deanna Duggar, were also a part of the Prime Video event. Jinger was asked to participate, but she declined.
While this year wasn’t the biggest one for scandals, it certainly opened up a can of worms about their religion and the amount of control Jim Bob had over his children, specifically the daughters.
Here are the biggest scandals from the Duggar family in 2023.
Jill Duggar’s book drops months early and spills major tea
Following her appearance on Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets, Jill Duggar revealed she wrote a book.
She was promoting it with a release date in 2024. Preorders were available, and due to the overwhelming response, the release was pushed up to September 2023.
In her book, Jill addressed Jim Bob Duggar’s fixation on her fertility after her especially traumatic birth with Samuel. He was banking on more babies from his daughters because the special birth episodes of Counting On garnered higher viewership. This was also true of the wedding specials; Jill’s wedding was one of the most viewed episodes ever.
The former Counting On star also revealed that Derick Dillard nearly had to get a restraining order against Jim Bob because of his insistent pestering of Jill. There were also details about the contracts they signed and what was required of them by her father, leading to them walking away from the show.
Duggars participating in Shiny Happy People
Amazon promoted this docuseries as a look into the fundamentalist groups like the Duggars and the Plaths.
No one believed a Duggar family member (maybe except cousin Amy) would participate in something that would shed light on some of the abusive practices within the religion.
When Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard appeared in the previews, critics and fans were shocked.
Others grew up in the church and participated in the docuseries as well. The claims about what happened at headquarters were shocking, and the stories about the camps the children who misbehaved were sent to were horrifying.
Jinger Duggar speaking out harshly about Bill Gothard
Jinger Duggar has kept her disagreements with her family private. She kept up the facade that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar didn’t care that she wore pants, including even addressing it in the show.
However, that was not the case at all. Jim Bob did care, and they discussed what she was showing her siblings as an example.
Her book Becoming Free Indeed focuses on her leaving the IBLP and calling it out for being false. She went in on Bill Gothard and tore the religion apart, even revealing that she suffered extreme anxiety because of what she was taught to believe growing up.
It wasn’t easy to have two of their most popular daughters speak out against the religion they so heavily promote and believe in. Jinger blamed the teachings, while Jill discussed all of it, including her confrontations with her father.
Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets is currently streaming on Prime Video.