LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: With the upcoming release of 'Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets' on Amazon Prime Jill Duggar, has broken her silence claiming that she "loves her parents" despite criticizing them for their "cult-like" lifestyle and for duping her and her siblings out of their share of payments given by TLC for their multiple reality shows. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, who were at the helm of the family, gained fame for their large brood of 19 children and their Institute of Basic Life Principles' traditional beliefs.
In the docuseries, Jill makes shocking allegations against her parents, saying they exploited her and her siblings by manipulating them into signing contracts and participating in multiple reality shows without fair compensation. She recalls being asked to sign a contract the day before her wedding but was only shown the signature page, not the full contents only to discover later that it committed her to the show for the next five years.
Jill Duggar exposes family's unpaid reality TV stint
In the explosive series, Jill reveals that her father Jim Bob prevented his children from receiving payment for their involvement in the family's numerous TLC reality shows, even after they reached adulthood. "No check, no cash, no nothing. For seven-and-a-half years of my adult life, I was never paid. We were taken advantage of." According to Jill, the Duggars received $18 million throughout their 21 seasons on TV, all of which, she claims, went into her father's pocket.
Jill clarified that she was requested to sign a contract the day before marrying Derick Dillard in 2014, but she asserts that she was never presented with the complete document, only the "signature page."
"It was just at the end of the kitchen table. [My dad was like,] 'Hey, I just need you guys to sign these,'" she recalled. "I didn't know what it was for." She later found out that it was a "commitment of her life to the show" for the next "five years." She also noted that any "business meetings" and "negotiations" held with TLC did not involve her or her siblings, only her father.
'They were gonna get what they wanted!'
In another instance, Jill recounts how she expressed her desire for privacy during her first pregnancy, specifically requesting that camera crews not be present during the delivery. However, she says the production company was resistant and convinced her and Derick to film the birth themselves using a handheld camera. This pattern continued, with Jill and Derick feeling pressured to comply with the network's demands.
"A few weeks out from the birth, the production company is like, 'Hey so we're thinking about the birth, are you good with us having one person there?' I was like, 'Well actually, we don't want you guys there at all,"' she explained. "They were like, 'At all?' They were shocked. I knew for sure nobody was going to be in my delivery room. Nobody. And nobody would be there for the labor. I didn't want any of that." Derick added, "We basically lost. They were gonna get what they wanted. They gave us cameras and they were like, 'You guys shoot'. We did diary cams, we did a lot of work so they got the footage," Jill explained.
Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard reach breaking point with TLC
The breaking point came when the couple moved to El Salvador for mission work. While the camera crews followed them, the network's insistence on returning to Arkansas for additional shoots was the final straw. "It was a matter of principle, like, 'no, we're gonna stay here'," Jill recalled. "That was the first time we really put our foot down and said no. I've never said no to our family before. I said, 'No. We cannot do what you're asking us to do.' It was one of those ah-hah moments for us." However, they felt compelled to comply due to the contract Jill had signed the day before her wedding.
When the pair raised concerns about compensation, Jim Bob offered to pay them a lump sum, but it would require signing another long-term contract with his production company. "If we're giving up something then we should get something in return," Derick stated. "Jim Bob was like, 'What do you want? $10 an hour?' And I was like, 'I don't know, what's it worth?' And he was like, 'What's your price?' He was like, 'I can pay you $10 an hour.' That's when we asked to talk to TLC."
However, as news of tensions within the family surfaced in the media, Jill revealed that Jim Bob eventually made an offer to financially compensate his adult children with a "lump sum of money," but it would require signing another long-term contract with his production company. Unwilling to continue under those conditions, Jill and Derick declined the offer and ultimately ended their relationship with TLC.
