Jinger Duggar Vuolo was raised in an ultraconservative family, with her parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, laying down the law for their 19 kids about everything from courtship to clothing and even music. But in her new book, the Counting On alum is revealing why she decided to leave those strict rules behind.
READ: Jinger Duggar makes surprising confession about strict family beliefs
In Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith From Fear, the TLC star, 28, details "how she began to question the harmful ideology of her youth," according to publisher Harper Collins.
The Duggars explain "courtship"
19 Kids and Counting stars Jim Bob and Michelle raised their brood in a devout Baptist home, following the teachings of Bill Gothard, who dictated obeying rules of modesty (no shorts or jeans, only dresses or skirts) and following guidelines for courtship that banned front-facing hugs and kissing before marriage. The founder of the Institute in Basic Life Principles also promoted ideals of male superiority and female obedience and discouraged listening to "syncopated music," including Christian rock.
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MORE: Jinger Duggar once considered split from husband Jeremy Vuolo
In her book, which is set to be released on January 31 next year, Jinger shares how in her early 20s, a new brother-in-law (believed to be Ben Seewald, her sister Jessa's spouse) who didn't grow up with the same ultraconservative restrictions prompted her to take a hard look at the way she was living her life.
19 Kids and Counting ran on TLC for seven years until it was canceled in 2015
The sixth child of Jim Bob and Michelle came to further question the rules imposed by her parents when she met her future husband, pastor Jeremy Vuolo.
Jinger's new book is out in January 2023
"Growing up, I had a set of standards that I took as givens.… [But] my convictions were changing," Jinger wrote in her 2021 memoir, The Hope We Hold, which was co-authored with Jeremy.
Shortly after their marriage in November 2016, Jinger began wearing pants as she realized that modesty wasn't "only about what you wear" but was also "about the position of your heart."
But in her memoir, the mom of two admitted she was "emotional" as she worried "that my parents would think I didn't appreciate how I was raised."
She subsequently moved away from her family in Arkansas, and she and Jeremy and their daughters, Felicity, 4, and Evangeline, 1, now live in LA. In May 2021, Jeremy admitted in a deposition for a court case involving his wife and her sisters Jill, Jessa and Joy-Anna that there is now an emotional distance between Jinger and her parents. He added that Jim Bob and Michelle had expressed their opinions about Jinger's life choices.
Jinger isn't the only one to leave behind her parents' restrictive rules— her sister Jill Duggar Dillard sparked controversy in 2017 when she posted a photo of a date night with her husband, Derick Dillard, that showed her with what appeared to be an alcoholic cocktail. Since then, the 31-year-old has shared candid posts about her sex life and using birth control, and she even got a nose ring and wore a revealing swimsuit. Jill also revealed that she broke one of Jim Bob's cardinal rules and lets the couple's three kids—Israel, 7, Samuel, 5, and Frederick, 3 months—watch television.
This has also caused tension with her parents and in 2021, she and Derick revealed that they haven't been to Michelle and Jim Bob's home in at least two years, with Derick admitting that "there's a lot of triggers there."
Jim Bob and Michelle acknowledged their feud with Jill and Derick, telling People in 2020, "Every family has differences of opinion and perspective at times, but families work things out."
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