Jinger Duggar Vuolo was a teenager when her family gained fame on the TLC reality series 19 Kids and Counting. You won’t find any Duggars on the 2025 TV schedule these days, but plenty of people are still keeping up with them, after molestation allegations against Josh Duggar — the oldest of Jim Bob and Michelle’s children — ended in his arrest on child pornography charges and a 151-month prison sentence. His sisters have since been inspired to speak out about their upbringing, and Vuolo has been among the most vocal, which she said was “hard and scary” but also necessary.
In her new book People Pleaser: Breaking Free from the Burden of Imaginary Expectations, Jinger Duggar Vuolo dives into how she discovered her true identity after a lifetime of seeking approval from others. In an interview on CBS Mornings, she said she had to fight the people-pleasing urge when writing her previous book, saying:
It’s interesting because whenever you look at the bigger picture of what people actually want to hear, they want to see your real life, and that was something that was hard for me for so many years to get to that place where I was willing to open up and share. When I wrote Becoming Free Indeed, getting to that place where I was willing to speak up against the teachings that I was raised under was hard and scary.
Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar raised their children under the teachings of disgraced religious leader Bill Gothard and the Institute in Basic Life Principles, which prioritizes male dominance, large families and modest dress. (Even Jinger Duggar Vuolo’s decision to break the no-pants tenet that had been instilled took years to admit to her parents.)
The author said although it made her uncomfortable and she was met with plenty of pushback, she felt she had to say something after she realized how harmful some of the teachings of their religion were. Jinger continued:
I was the last person who wanted to say anything, but when all of these issues were coming up in the public, no one was saying anything. And I, as a people pleaser, was the last person who wanted to speak up, but I knew I had to. I was compelled to speak up because it was harming people. These teachings were dangerous, they were false and so somebody had to speak up.
She said she saw friends who were being “harmed” by the IBLP way of life, and that gave her the courage to speak out. In Becoming Free Indeed, Jinger Duggar Vuolo also felt the need to speak out about her brother Josh, and she suggested that there’s still some tension between some of the Duggar siblings, telling CBS:
It can be complicated at times with different members of my family. Most of them I get along pretty well with — my siblings, my mother… I’m so thankful to have strong relationships with most of my siblings, and there are some where it still is a little bit difficult.
It sounds like navigating those evolving relationships may still be a struggle, especially growing up with such strict guidelines as to what was expected of her, and People Pleaser likely delves into more of that. The new book by Jinger Duggar Vuolo is available now, and you can also check out the docuseries Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets, which can be streamed with an Amazon Prime subscription.
