After growing up in the Institute in Basic Life Principles, some of Michelle and Jim Bob’s 19 children have spoken out against Bill Gothard’s teachings. Jinger is among their adult kids who have publicly rejected many of the IBLP’s fundamentalist Christian beliefs. And recently, Jinger Duggar offered blunt insight into her family’s reaction to her 2023 memoir.
In January 2023, Jinger – the sixth-born Duggar sibling – released a memoir titled Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear. The book shared her experience having been raised in the IBLP, and she condemned many of its ultra-conservative principles. As Jinger prepares to publish another memoir, People Pleaser: Breaking Free from the Burden of Imaginary Expectations, she dished on how family members took her first book.
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Jinger Duggar confessed that some of her family's reactions to her memoir were 'unkind.'
“Yes, there were critics. Yes, there were people who were saying very harsh things,” Jinger told People in an interview published on January 9.
“There were loved ones that would say things that were very unkind. It was not easy,” she continued. “But at the end of the day, I realized it was the best decision. It was the best thing that I could have done, to love these people by sharing truth.”
Previously, a source close to the Duggars claimed her parents were 'embarrassed' by the book.
In February 2023, a source close to the Duggars reportedly spoke with Radar Online about Michelle and Jim Bob’s reaction to her memoir. The unnamed source claimed they were “embarrassed” by Jinger’s book. Neither Jim Bob nor Michelle has publicly spoken about the 2023 memoir.
At least three other Duggar sisters. have left the IBLP, too.
Among the shocking revelations in Becoming Free Indeed, Jinger shared that her sister, Jessa Duggar, also left the IBPL. Jessa later confirmed this in an Instagram Q&A that she and her husband, Ben “do not follow” the teachings. Meanwhile, Joy-Anna Duggar’s husband, Austin Forsyth, shared in a YouTube video that they “were never” part of the IBLP as a couple.
And then there’s Jill Duggar.
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Jill Duggar wrote her own memoir speaking out against the religion in which she was raised.
In September 2023, Jill released a memoir of her own titled Counting the Cost. She and her husband, Derick Dillard, also appeared in the limited docuseries, Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets. In both, Jill spoke out about the harmful teachings of Gothard and how she no longer follows them.
Jinger's new book drops on January 14.
During her January 9 sit-down with People, Jinger spoke about how writing her first book was “freeing” for her.
“The more that I’m thinking clearly through the ‘why’ behind I want to speak truth, I need to stand up for the vulnerable,” she said. “My people-pleasing before would never have allowed me to do that. I would’ve been silent.”
In her second memoir, the former Counting On star will open up more about how people-pleasing hurt her and how she has learned to work past it. People Pleaser releases on January 14.
