DUGGAR fans have been left feeling sorry for Jinger after she recalls her favorite Christmas memory from her childhood.
The former TLC star has been open with her fans about her upbringing, sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly.
5
During a Q&A with fans on her Instagram Story, Jinger, 29, responded to a fan who asked: “What is your favorite Christmas memory?”
The author replied: “One Christmas my parents gave each of us a decent-sized plastic container full of candy…and topped it with a new toothbrush and toothpaste!”
She went on to reveal: “I saved the container until it broke last year…it was that memorable!”
Several of her responses, including that one, were screengrabbed and shared on Reddit.
One wrote: “To be honest I find her favorite Christmas memory kind of sad. I realize finding it sad comes from an initial position of enormous privilege but I can’t imagine the best Christmas gift I ever got being a bucket of candy.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” a second person replied. “It’s very sad to me that her favorite memory (not gift) was a generic gift that was just candy. It wasn’t a personalized gift to her. It wasn’t a fancy gift. It was an easy, cheap gift to give a bunch of children you can’t afford.
“If that was her best gift/memory I can only imagine how all the other years went.”
A third critic slammed: “I wouldn’t be surprised if they had the money for gifts but just wouldn’t spend it. I could see this gift being given around the time they were living in the 3 bedroom house and Jim Bob spent $200k trying to run for US Senate.”
“Basic necessities as a Christmas gift? I’m so confused,” someone else critiqued.
REBEL DUGGAR
Other fans couldn’t help but note that Jinger was breaking a major Duggar rule in the photo she posted in her Q&A response video.
In the clip, she was seen standing in front of a house that appeared to be decorated for Christmas.
It was painted red with peppermint-striped piping around the building, candies and candy-coated pretzels on the sides of the house, and a festive bear popping out of the top in a Santa hat.
Jinger appeared in the clip alongside her daughters, Felicity and Evangeline.
The girls were wearing matching blue-and-white checkered dresses while the 19 Kids and Counting alum kept it casual in jeans and a gray tank top.
Duggar girls are expected to adhere to strict modesty standards, dictated by their father Jim Bob.
They cover their shoulders and don’t wear pants.
Jinger, however, has moved away from those standards and begun dressing to her own standards.
CHALLENGING CHILDHOOD
Earlier this year, the mom of two opened up about her upbringing in an interview with People.
She confessed: “Fear was a huge part of my childhood.”
Jinger opened up about growing up under Jim Bob and Michelle’s rule.
“I thought I had to wear only skirts and dresses to please God,” she revealed.
The star continued: “Music with drums, places I went or the wrong friendships could all bring harm.”
Jinger even recalled a time when her family went to play broomball, admitting that she was “terrified” of repercussions from God.
“I thought I would be killed in a car accident on the way, because I didn’t know if God wanted me to stay home and read my Bible instead,” she said.
She and her siblings were raised in the Institute of Basic Life Principles, a Christian organization established by Bill Gothard.
Jinger left the church in 2017 and has since slammed its teachings, calling them “cult like.”
“The teaching I grew up under was harmful, it was damaging, and there are last effects,” she said.
5
5
5