When Jill Duggar introduced 19 Kids & Counting viewers to her future husband, Derick Dillard,
fans were beyond happy Jill had found "the one."
A college grad, Dillard held a lucrative accounting job at Walmart when the couple started courting.
But a few years following the couple's wedding in June 2014, the public's perception of Dillard
changed.
Whether it was his controversial antics on social media, public fights with fellow TLC
stars, or rumored feuds with Duggar's loved ones, Dillard didn't seem interested in repairing
his tarnished image.
But what's fact and what's fiction when it comes to Dillard's life?
Here's the truth about Jill Duggar's husband.
Family drama
In 2008, Derick Dillard's police officer father, Rick, passed away at age 50 from a heart attack,
long before Derick met Jill.
Derick was still a freshman at Oklahoma State University when he learned the news.
Later, in 2014, his mom Cathy Byrum was diagnosed with Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, just two
weeks after Dillard proposed to Duggar.
But luckily for the family, Byrum is four years cancer-free as of April 2018.
Calling out the network
One of Dillard's more controversial claims is that TLC never paid him, nor his wife,
for their work on 19 Kids & Counting, or Counting On.
This allegation came to light when Dillard said that TLC didn't foot the bill for his
eldest son's delivery.
He wrote, in since-deleted tweets,
"We even requested that they help with some of the medical expenses from the birth that
they made a pretty penny on, but they refused to help cover any of those costs."
Of course, fans pointed out that the couple's Counting On salaries could cover the costs,
since it's estimated that the family makes $25,000 to $40,000 per episode.
But Dillard claimed:
"As far as we could tell we were volunteers and hadn't been paid anything for the show."
Either way, TLC has yet to release a statement about the legitimacy of Dillard's claims.
Blowing up social media
If you follow Dillard on Instagram, you probably already know he's a fan of stirring up drama.
But fans think Dillard crossed a major line when he used his son, Israel, to joke about
Trump's border wall, posting,
"Israel helping Trump build 'The Wall' lol."
Unsurprisingly, fans weren't amused.
One comment read,
"This isn't appropriate to teach a child.
Let him be a kid and don't use him for your political agenda."
The family ministry
Many fans wondered how Dillard was ever able to launch his own non-profit — Dillard Family
Ministries — without any qualifications.
Although Dillard performed missionary work prior to launching the ministry in June 2015,
according to Inquisitr, he never completed the 20 to 30 graduate hours from an accredited
university he needed in order to get funding from the Southern Baptist Convention and the
International Mission Board.
If a ministry doesn't have funding, it isn't considered licensed.
And since he wasn't technically licensed, it was no surprise that Dillard and Duggar
were pressured by fans to refund donations to their cause.
The pair finally dissolved the ministry in April 2017.
Shading the TLC family
Shortly after TLC tweeted a promo for transgender-focused series, I Am Jazz, in August 2017, Dillard
tweeted to star, Jazz Jennings,
"What an oxymoron… a 'reality' show which follows a non-reality.
Transgender is a myth.
Gender is not fluid; it's ordained by God."
To Jennings' credit, she took Dillard's comments in stride, tweeting,
"Every day I experience cyber-bullying, but I keep sharing my story.
Today was no different."
Attacking other parents
Dillard didn't limit his Twitter attacks to just one other TLC alum.
He also attacked famed interior designer Nate Berkus and his family.
Commenting on a TLC promo for Berkus and Brent's TLC design show, Dillard wrote,
"What a travesty of family.
It's sad how blatant the liberal agenda is, such that it both highlights and celebrates
a lifestyle so degrading to children on public television as if it should be normal."
Berkus then graciously tweeted a follow-up, writing,
"My hope with having a show like Nate and Jeremiah By Design, where we go into people's
homes and welcome viewers into ours, is that we can start to break down barriers and normalize
the way our family looks and the way our family loves."
Kicked off Counting On
Shortly after Dillard's hateful comments against Jennings, TLC released a statement in November
2017, tweeting,
"We want to let our viewers know that Derick Dillard has not participated in Counting On
for months and the network has no plans to feature him in the future."
Although many people assumed that Dillard was fired, he tweeted in December 2017:
"For the record, I was never fired.
I just felt it best for my family to cut ties months ago, as we are heading in a different
direction."
So, what's the real story here?
The answer remains unclear.
But this probably isn't the last we've heard of Derick Dillard.
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