Jill Duggar revealed she's been estranged from her father, Jim Bob, 58, for more than a year.
On her Wednesday, January 10, appearance on "The Unplanned Podcast", the mother-of-three — who shares sons Israel, Samuel and Frederick with husband Derick Dillard — guessed that the last time she actually saw the Duggar family patriarch in person was probably when her youngest son was born in July 2022.
Jill wasn't entirely certain if that the last time, noting it also might have been a "wedding or birthday thing," but confirmed it was well before her bombshell memoir, Counting the Cost, hit shelves in September 2023.
As for if Jim Bob and her mother, Michelle, actually chose to read the tell-all tome — which detailed her complicated relationship with her parents and the difficulties she experienced as a child, as well as during her time on their hit TLC shows — Jill believes they did.
"I heard they listened to it on audiobook or something. I don’t know. They’re my parents and I’m gonna tread lightly," she added, noting she didn't want to "create more controversy" by outright asking her parents if they'd read it.
"It’s kind of like when you get together at the holidays, and there are just certain things that you don’t just want to bring up," she continued. "It’s probably a sore subject."
Jill also speculated that if approached, her parents would suggest they "sit down with a therapist" and "hash out" their problems, but as she wrote in her book, they "tried that before" but it wasn't the "healthiest way to go about it."
The former reality star shared they're "still on the road to figuring things out," but clarified she sees her mother at least once a year.
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As OK! previously reported, Jill shared she had very limited contact with her father in one of the chapters of her book.
"With my dad, we mostly see him at weddings, funerals, and then sometimes a few other events here and there. But yeah, it’s complicated," she explained at the time. "We really don’t have a whole lot of conversations at this point in our relationship with my family about the whole family drama situation. We feel like we have kind of just had to make our own decisions and realize that you can’t change people."
A source also claimed Jim Bob and Michelle were scrambling to restore their reputations after Jill spilled potentially embarrassing details about their strained relationships in her memoir.
"They’ve carefully cultivated this image of being wholesome parents, but Jill describes them as mean and spiteful," the source dished last year. "Jim Bob and Michelle are so focused on their image and their standing in their community. Jill believes they prioritize that over their family’s happiness."
