Not so glamourous. Jill Duggar opened up about her time on 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On, claiming she never saw a dime during her time as a reality star.
“Up until around the time we left the show, we hadn’t been paid for anything,” Duggar, 29, claimed in a Q&A video on the Dillard Family Official YouTube channel last month. “Of course, there were perks that came along with filming.”
The former TLC star explained that when she traveled for one of the shows, the network “might cover those expenses and stuff,” which she said she was “grateful” for, but neither she nor her husband, Derick Dillard, allegedly received paychecks for their parts.
“We hadn’t been paid until we were really pressing about it and ended up getting an attorney involved and stuff,” the mother of two said.
Dillard, 31, spoke out about the lack of funds associated with the couple’s screen time as well, saying, “once we got an attorney involved we were able to cover a portion at least of what Jill should’ve been paid up until the time we left the show.”
He claimed the money they recouped came out to be “a little more than minimum wage at most.”
Duggar agreed with her husband’s comments, admitting it was “not much more” than the bare minimum.
“We were able to recover at least something,” Dillard added.
Earlier this month, Duggar addressed her departure from Counting On, which she appeared on from 2015 to 2018, pointing to its effects on her family as her reason for walking away.
“We found out we didn’t have as much control over our lives as it related to the show and stuff, as we needed,” she said in an October YouTube Q&A video. “We had to make a decision at that time to kind of put the show aside … to pursue our own goals and everything. That’s when we made that decision.”
Although Duggar said she doesn’t regret leaving the show, the couple’s exit has led to “some distancing” between her and her family.
“We’re not on the best terms with some of my family,” she said. “We’ve had some disagreements, but we’re working toward healing definitely and restoration, but we’re having to kind of just take some time and heal.”
Duggar left the TLC series ahead of its seventh season, which aired in 2018. Additionally, TLC cut ties with Dillard in August 2017 after he made controversial comments about I Am Jazz star, Jazz Jennings, and her transgender journey.
The network later told Us Weekly that Dillard’s statement “does not represent the views of TLC” and he was no longer featured on the reality show.
The couple started courting in November 2013 and wed less than a year later in June 2014. They share two sons, Israel, 5, and Samuel, 3.
TLC has no comment.
