Derick Dillard Blasts Jim Bob Duggar: He Ambushed Jill!

Derick Dillard says that Jim Bob Duggar “ambushed” him and Jill.

Why? As a PR stunt to make it look like the family is on good terms, apparently.

We recently reported on how Jill and Jim Bob seemed to hang out during the family’s Christmas celebration.

According to Derick, his widely reviled father-in-law simply cornered him and his wife at the large family gathering … and it “happened” to end up on the internet.

Didn’t Jill Duggar have that ‘cozy’ photo with Jim Bob Duggar? Sort of

An earlier Instagram post by James Duggar showed dozens of Duggars in Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s enormous living room on the infamous Duggar compound.

Of particular note was one photograph of Jill, Derick, and Jim Bob.

The three were seated together and appeared to be speaking. After years of estrangement, it looked like a sign that the Dillards were growing closer to Jill’s awful dad — for better or for worse.

Numerous articles — including ours — discussed the photo and the fan response.

This of course included fan speculation that Jill and Jim Bob were mending fences despite her traumatic childhood and her financial wrongdoings that she described in interviews and in her memoir, Counting The Cost.

Some fans felt encouraged to see father and daughter supposedly getting along. Others felt horrified that Jill might backslide into falling under that man’s influence again. And Derick? Derick says that Jim Bob “ambushed” them for a misleading photo-op.

Derick Dillard says that Jim Bob Duggar ‘ambushed’ him and Jill

After People shared a blurb about the photos on Instagram, Derick Dillard penned a lengthy comment.

“I don’t think being ambushed, by being unknowingly photographed with someone you’re at odds with and do not respect, is considered ‘mingling,’” he began.

“The truth is that Jim Bob approached me while we were there on Christmas Day,” Derick clarified. “And that is when the photo was taken.”

“I have spoken to Jim Bob less than 10 minutes since the last time I was at that house over a year ago,” Derick Dillard detailed.

He added: “(and I happened to be photographed, unbeknownst to me, by the same person then as well).” That person being James Duggar, who is also an apologist for Jim Bob for some reason.

“There were over 100 people, the house is 8000 square feet, and Santa Clause was there,” Derick described. “So this isn’t your typical intimate family gathering.”

‘We’re trying to be civil’

He explained: “We’re trying to be civil for the sake of our family, but that doesn’t mean everything is all hunky dorey.” That makes sense.

“And,” Derick emphasized, “it sure doesn’t mean that I’m not going to comment when people try to warp reality for their own purposes.”

This, for the record, is one of many reasons why so many people go no-contact with a toxic parent rather than simply keeping them at a safe distance. Jim Bob is not the only indefensible dirtbag who’s used civility as a weapon to make things look better than they are. He just happens to be more famous than most.