'Counting On' Star Derick Dillard Spills The Tea On The 'Pressure' To Film The Duggar Family Show

Gettyimages | D Dipasupil

Fans of Jill & Jessa: Counting On and the Duggar family have been wondering why Jill Duggar and her husband Derick Dillard have been absent from a lot of the Duggar family events.

Derrick Dillard opened up about their issues with the Duggar family, explaining that they aren't even allowed in the Duggar family home without Jim Bob present. He told fans on Instagram:

"We're not allowed in the house when [Jim Bob] isn't there. Jill even has to ask [Jim Bob's] permission to go over to the house to help her sister when she was in labor because her sister wanted help, but Jill couldn't provide assistance until we got it cleared from JB."

Much of this conversation was prompted by the fact that Derick and Jill spent Christmas with just their two kids while many of the other Duggars gathered together.

From Derick's account, patriarch Jim Bob runs the family reality TV business with an iron fist.

"He is the only one with a contract."

"We were made to believe we didn't have a choice and that we would be sued if we refused. However, once we became more enlightened, we realized that we could easily defend ourselves in against a lawsuit from the family/TLC."

Dillard continued responding to fans, obliquely referencing Jill's sexual abuse at the hands of her brother, Josh.

"We were pressured to think that we were required to and that we would get sued if we didn't."

"It's not going to look good for TLC when it's exposed that they pressured an abuse victim to continue filming when we tried to quit, just so they could continue with Jill & Jessa: Counting On after [19 Kids and Counting]."

From the sound of things, it seems to be for the best that the Dillards are getting some distance from the Duggar family.

Dillard also explained that they probably aren't the only members of the Duggar family who feel this way either.

"If it's the same way it was for us, the others may be pressured into submission with threats of lawsuits, too deep into it/ dependent, or something else like that to speak up."

Dillard, who hasn't been on Counting On since 2017 after he made transphobic remarks about Jazz Jennings, ominously mentioned that TLC should probably lawyer up.

"[TLC] has issues. They begged us not to [quit] filming, but then didn't want to talk directly with us about why. If money is all they care about, then it's going to catch up with them — you must care about [people]. All I've got to say is, they better lawyer-up [because] a storm is inevitable."

This whole situation sounds like a real mess. Something tells me that the Duggars aren't as wholesome as they claim.