Reality TV personality Jill Duggar, her husband Derick Dillard, and their three kids were involved in a harrowing car wreck.
On Feb. 6, Duggar took to Instagram to reveal that it had been one year since she, Derick, and their children—Israel, 10, Samuel, 8, and Freddy, 3—were involved in a crash.
“1 year ago today, we were hit from behind by an unlicensed driver at full speed while we were stopped at a red light,” the 34 year old wrote alongside photos of her in a hospital gown, doing physical therapy, and a picture of a car. “We had all of our kids in the car with us, and it was so scary and shook us all up.”
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“We thank God that things didn’t turn out worse, but due to the wreck, this last year has been crazier than we initially anticipated,” the 19 Kids and Counting star continued. “It’s been full of lots of scans, physical therapy, chiropractic, and doctor appointments for all of us as we continue to evaluate things.”
“I’m so thankful for God’s continued grace and pray that this next year brings continued healing!” she concluded. In addition to her health update, Duggar shared selfies that showed her in a hospital gown and using rehab tools. A third image of the wreckage revealed that the entire front bumper of their car was smashed in.
Of course, Jill’s followers filled the comments with prayers and kind wishes for her family’s healing. “So glad everyone is OK,” one top comment read. “Crashing into a lawyer and his family was not on the person’s bingo card. 😬 So glad y’all are healing ❤️🩹,” another onlooker added. “I remember getting whiplash from an incident once. I feel for you. It’s a rough go,” one empathetic fan wrote.
Jill is one of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s 19 children. Their large family was featured on TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On. “It caused a lot of frustration in our marriage,” Jill told People in September 2023, referring to the reality TV shows. “Especially early on, where he would feel a certain way about filming something. I’d be like, ‘I hear you, I feel you, I also don’t want to do whatever it is they’re asking us to do either. But we have to.’”
19 Kids and Counting ran from 2008 to 2015 before Jill and her siblings headlined a Counting On spinoff from 2015 to 2020. Jill and Derick opted to leave Counting On in 2017 years before its eventual cancellation.
“We found out we didn’t have as much control over our lives as it related to the show and stuff, as we needed,” Jill said in a joint YouTube video with her husband published in October 2020. “We had to make a decision at that time to kind of put the show aside … to pursue our own goals and everything.”
Dillard, for his part, claimed that he and Jill were torn between “a rock and a hard place” when their family goals didn’t align with production circumstances. Jill and Dillard’s Counting On exit soon sparked a rift from her relatives, including dad Jim Bob, 60. “There’s been some distancing there,” she said at the time. “We’re not on the best terms with some of my family. 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.”
Jill and Dillard have since tried to work on their family relationships. “I feel like we are in a rebuilding phase now with healthy boundaries still in place,” Jill said in a social media update in November 2024. “We try to hang out whenever it works well and we have the bandwidth to navigate things.”
