Jill Duggar was shocked by a number of the revelations about her family in cousin Amy Duggar‘s latest memoir — similar to Us.
The 19 Kids and Counting alums and their husbands teamed up for an Instagram Live Q&A following the discharge of Amy’s book, Holy Disruptor, on October 14. At one point, Jill, 34, was asked whether she knew about her grandfather Jimmy Lee Duggar‘s alleged abusive behavior before picking up the memoir. (Jimmy Lee, who died in 2009, was the daddy of Jill’s dad, Jim Bob, and Amy’s mom, Deanna.)
Jill and her husband, Derick Dillard, explained that they read Amy’s book during a recent trip, but attributable to Jill’s schedule, they weren’t reading at the identical pace.
“I actually told Jill some things about her grandfather that she didn’t know, in order that was an interesting dynamic,” Derick said.
Jill went on to recall their conversation. “He was like, ‘Did you understand this, that or the opposite about Grandpa Duggar? And I used to be like, ‘No, tell me more,’” she said. “And it was so weird because he’s like, ‘I’m literally telling you more about your grandpa than you knew.’”
In line with Jill, her husband “never got to fulfill” Jimmy Lee, but she had filled him in on a number of the stories about her grandfather up to now. “[The book] definitely is deep,” Jill continued. “It goes into a whole lot of points … and the fact of a whole lot of situations that our family lived.”
Jill praised her cousin’s “boldness” in sharing such difficult memories about her childhood and clan. “It was very insightful, truthfully,” Jill said. “We learned more about our family history than we knew. We had inklings of things, but even just your loved ones and the whole lot you went through.”
In Holy Disruptor, Amy opened up for the primary time about her “complicated” and “unpredictable” grandfather — and the abuse her mother allegedly experienced while growing up. Amy described one instance when Deanna returned home from college and saw her parents fighting. Jimmy Lee then turned his anger on his daughter.
“With a leather belt in his hand and essentially the most haunting, crazed look in his eyes, he grabbed her by the legs, held her down on the bed, and commenced beating her, every hit harder than the last. … This brutal torture lasted for greater than an hour,” Amy claimed, adding that Deanna was left “black and blue and beaten to a bloody pulp.”
When Deanna was 21, her father allegedly “went ballistic” when she brought up the concept of moving in along with her then-boyfriend. “[Jimmy Lee] grabbed her by the throat, carried her from the kitchen to his bed, and jumped on top of her. He wrapped his hands round her neck, lay on top of her so she was unable to maneuver, and began strangling her. … He almost succeeded in murdering my mother,” Amy wrote.
Jim Bob stepped in to assist his sister and “saved her life that day,” based on Amy.
While the physical abuse eventually stopped, there was more to be uncovered about Jimmy Lee’s alleged behavior. Amy revealed she was told never to be alone along with her grandpa — but she didn’t understand why until after his death.
“The rationale I used to be not allowed to be alone with my grandpa was because he was a predator!” Amy wrote. “Underneath JL’s charming and funny personality was a real monster.”
In an exclusive interview with Us Weekly before her book’s release, Amy shared that her mom was initially hesitant in regards to the world learning the reality about Jimmy Lee.
“I believe at first she form of pushed back. … After which I believe she considered it and was like, ‘You already know what? Actually, by talking about it, it takes away its power,’” Amy told Us.
Should you or someone you understand is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.