This past year has been a very eye-opening one for anyone who watched the Duggar family on reality TV. Between Jinger’s book, Jill’s book, and a documentary on the family, a lot of secrets no one knew have come to the forefront, and it doesn’t look like everyone is done talking yet.
Jill Duggar and her husband, Derick Dillard, were guests on a podcast about cults.
Recently, Jill and Derick spoke more about their experiences growing up in front of the cameras as guests on the podcast Sounds Like a Cult and Derick didn’t hod back his feelings about his father-in-law, Jim Bob Duggar.
He compared the power structure of the reality TV show, 19 Kids and Counting based on what Jill had told him, to a how a pimp treats women.
Podcast hosts Isa Medina and Amanda Montell asked some interesting questions.
One of those questions asked of Jill and Derick had to do with the power structure of the reality TV show. Of course, Derick wasn’t really on the show, but he relayed information based on what he said Jill has told him about the power structure.
Jill and Derrick were asked who the leaders of the reality TV show was for both 19
Kids and Counting and Counting On, and fingers were pointed at one person.
The leader was Jim Bob, according to Derick.
Jill answered the question first, saying that the boss of the show was a mix of the network, the viewers, and her dad.
But Derick said her dad acted the way he did on set (mainly being the way he treated his kids and how he handled the contracts and finances of all the kids) because he was afraid of getting fired and losing income.
So Jim Bob made it easier on the network by manipulating his family.
"One of the advantages, unfortunately, to the way he did it, like manipulating everyone, was that the network only had to deal with one person," Derick said.
"Like he said, like a pimp, 'I can give you the services of these families. I'm not going to ask if they want to be involved in this on this level, but I will give you all the life events of all these kids of mine.'
"And they just have to deal with one person,” he added. “They don't have to get it from everyone.”
Fans and critic of the Duggars said they weren’t surprised by Derick’s comparison.
On Reddit’s popular DuggarSnark community, the podcast transcript was shared, and no one seemed too surprised by the fact Derick compared Jim Bob to a pimp.
“I have said it for years. Boob pimped out his daughters for the TLC money and some of that money paid for Pesty's defense and appeals,” one person replied in the thread, with “Pesty” referring to oldest son Josh Duggar.
“Forced. Labor. Trafficking,” another person wrote.
“I'm so glad these two got out and exposed him,” shared another critic.
“Pimp is an appropriate term,” added someone else. “Not hyperbole at all. Keep up the pressure on the pimp.”
“I think she’s mad her father used her for money,” another Redditor shared. “Lied to her about money he stole from her. Threatened her over money. Valued her for money. Yeah I’d say the fixation on that makes sense.”
For some reason, we get the feeling that this isn’t the last time we’ll hear from these two.
