Jill Michelle Dillard (née Duggar; born May 17, 1991) is an American television personality. She is known for her appearances on

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

as part of the reality television shows ''

19 Kids and Counting ''19 Kids and Counting'' (formerly ''17 Kids and Counting'' and ''18 Kids and Counting'') is an American reality television series that aired on the cable channel TLC (TV network), TLC for seven years until its cancellation in 2015. The show f ...

'' (2008-2015) and ''

Counting On ''Counting On'' (formerly ''Jill & Jessa: Counting On'') is an American reality television show that aired on the cable channel TLC from 2015-2020. A spin-off show of ''19 Kids and Counting'', it features the Duggar family: Jessa Seewald, Ji ...

'' (2015-2017). She also co-authored a book with her sisters Jana, Jessa, and Jinger titled ''Growing Up Duggar: It's All About Relationships''.

Personal life

Dillard was born in

Tontitown, Arkansas Tontitown is a city in northern Washington County, Arkansas, United States. The community is located in the Ozark Mountains and was founded by Italian settlers in 1898. Known for its grapes and wines, Tontitown has hosted the Tontitown Grape Fest ...

, as the fourth child and the second daughter of

Jim Bob James Robert Morrison, known as Jim Bob, is a British musician and author. He was the singer of indie punk band Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine. Biography Jim Bob played in various bands during the late 1970s and early 1980s, including Jami ...

and Michelle Duggar. On June 21, 2014, she married Derick Michael Dillard. They have three sons together. In 2015, the Dillard family relocated to Central America to serve as missionaries with S.O.S. Ministries. Ten months later, they returned to the United States.

Career

Television

Dillard began her public life as a member of the family featured in the documentary ''14 Children and Pregnant Again'' (2004), which talks about daily life of the family from the "time they wake up" to the "time they go to sleep". The documentary aired on the

Discovery Health Channel Discovery Health Channel was an American subscription television channel. Launched in July 1998, it was owned by Discovery Communications as a spin-off of Discovery Channel, focusing on health and wellness-oriented programming. In the beginning ...

. Another documentary, ''Raising 16 Children'' was produced on the same channel in 2006, when her sister Johannah was born. This was followed by another feature, ''On the Road with 16 Children'' about a family cross-country trip. On September 29, 2008, ''

'' (formerly ''18 Kids and Counting'' and ''17 Kids and Counting'') began as a regular series based on the Duggar family. The show was cancelled in 2015 following several scandals surrounding her brother

Josh Josh is a masculine given name, frequently a diminutive (hypocorism) of the given names Joshua or Joseph, though since the 1970s, it has increasingly become a full name on its own. It may refer to: People A–J * "Josh", an early pseudonym of S ...

. Another series, '' Jill & Jessa: Counting On'', starring Dillard and her sister Jessa, premiered on December 13, 2015. Jill and her family dropped out of the show in 2017.

Books

Dillard co-wrote the book ''Growing Up Duggar: It's All About Relationships'', published by

Howard Books Howard Books (formerly Howard Publishing) is a Christian publishing company founded in 1969 by Alton Howard and previously based in West Monroe, Louisiana, but which relocated to Brentwood, Tennessee, (south of Nashville) in September 2009. I ...

with her sisters Jana, Jessa and Jinger. It was released on March 4, 2014. The book shares an inside look at what being a Duggar child is like as they talk about their parents' faith and perspectives on life.

Midwife

In 2015, Dillard became a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) in Arkansas. However, her mentor Vanessa Giron's license was revoked after being found negligent in a birth. Neither Dillard nor Giron are licensed midwives in the state of Arkansas.

Sexual abuse victim

In June 2015 on ''

The Kelly File ''The Kelly File'' was an American news television program hosted by journalist and former attorney Megyn Kelly on the Fox News Channel. The program was a spinoff of ''The O'Reilly Factor'', and focused on late-breaking stories in a live format ...

'', Dillard identified herself as one of the girls whom her oldest brother

Joshua Duggar Joshua James Duggar (born March 3, 1988) is an American convicted sex offender and former reality television personality from the TLC series ''19 Kids and Counting''. The eldest of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar's nineteen children, Duggar was the ...

had

molested Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assau ...

as a teen. Dillard reported the abuse consisted of inappropriate touching while she was asleep, saying she did not know it had occurred until her brother confessed to her parents, and her parents then told her what had occurred. Dillard stated that the release of the police reports was a "revictimization", and she expressed concern that the police reports detailing her abuse being made public might discourage other families experiencing abuse from seeking help.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillard, Jill Michelle Duggar family Participants in American reality television series 21st-century American women writers Writers from Arkansas American midwives Child sexual abuse in the United States Incestual abuse People from Washington County, Arkansas 1991 births Living people