Through all of the drama between Jill Duggar and her family, there has been one person who has stood by her: husband Derick Dillard. And not just that — Derick will also defend her from anyone who tries to mess with her, her own family included. The couple has been through so much since tying the knot in 2014, but Derick has been in Jill’s corner the whole time. He has been especially protective of Jill when it comes to her father, Jim Bob Duggar. During promotion for her book Counting the Cost, Jill revealed that it was one of Derick's threats that actually got her dad to back off.
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Derick and Jim Bob had a good relationship for a while.
"I think Derick trusted my dad and my dad trusted him. But then, once we started having some differences and saying things that weren't — we weren't falling in line with everything — it got a little rocky there," Jill explained during her October appearance on Christy Carlson Romano’s Vulnerable podcast.
Derick stepped up to defend Jill to Jim Bob.
"Derick had to really have some hard conversations with my dad," Jill said, "and more recently, to the point where he was standing up to protect me, and say, 'This is not OK how you're treating your daughter.'"
From what we know about Jill's upbringing, Derick may have been the first person to ever defend her in this way.
When things went too far, Derick didn't hesitate to threaten legal action against Jim Bob.
Apparently, Derick’s defense of his wife didn’t convince Jim Bob to back off, but Jill revealed that her husband was able to do something else to let her father know they weren’t taking his mistreatment lightly.
"I think my dad got the picture when Derick was telling him, 'If you keep contacting her directly, then I'll have to file a protective order,'" she shared.
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Jill is still hopeful for a possible reconciliation with her parents.
Jill went on to add that the relationship between herself and her father is largely nonexistent, but she does see her parents occasionally. In fact, she holds onto the hope that maybe one day she will be able to reconcile with them.
"We hope for the future that things can get better," she said.
Jill and Derick even used a mediator to try to repair their relationship with Jim Bob and Michelle.
Just because she’s holding on to hope doesn’t mean that she will allow her family to fall into old habits. "We're not rushing things either with my family. We want to have good relationships. We want there to be better trust," Jill shared.
In Counting the Cost, Jill revealed that she hired a mediator to help them talk to her parents and work through some of their issues. She also gives her therapist credit for giving her and Derick "so many tools we didn't know we needed when we needed them most."
