Why Jinger Duggar hasn’t spent Christmas with her family in almost a decade

Jinger Duggar is opening up about why she hasn’t celebrated Christmas with her family in nine years.

The former TLC reality star, 32, opened up about her Christmas plans on The Jinger & Jeremy Podcast, which she co-hosts with her husband, Jeremy Vuolo.

Shooting down speculation of bad blood between herself and her family, Jinger said that it was ‘exciting’ to spend the holidays with her family this year after almost a decade.

‘We have not been back to the Duggar house since we’ve been married, in nine years, for Christmas, and we’re going this year,’ Jeremy shared.

Jinger said that the reason she’d skipped out on celebrating Christmas with the Duggars is because she chooses to spend the holidays with Jeremy’s family instead, as it’s ‘the only time of year’ that they can all be together.

‘Throughout the years, we’ve decided, like, “Okay, that’s going to be the time that we spend with the Vuolo family”,’ she explained.

She insisted that the Duggars are ‘always together’ and that they often travel from their home in Santa Clarita, California, to visit the Duggars in Arkansas.

‘We went back one year, three times in one year, for weddings,’ she said.

Jinger and Jeremy met in May 2015 and wed in September 2016. They have welcomed three kids together over the years – daughters Felicity Nicole and Evangeline Jo and a son named Finnegan Charles.

Jinger and her then-16 siblings shot to stardom after the family landed their very own TLC reality series called 19 Kids and Counting in 2008.

The series, which would go on to be renamed multiple times to account for the births of yet more kids, quickly captured the nation and became immensely popular.

What likely sparked the world’s interest was parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s insanely-strict set of rules that they set for their 19 children.

The couple are devout followers of the Institute in Basic Life Principles – a Christian group created by shunned minister Bill Gothard.

The organization promotes teachings that say children must be homeschooled, dress modestly, and avoid all contact with the opposite sex before marriage. 

Almost every aspect of the kids’ lives were controlled by Jim Bob and Michelle – they read their text messages, told them what they were allowed to watch on TV and what music they could listen too, and they even had a say in who they were friends with.

The show went on for 10 seasons before ending in 2015, however, later that year, a spinoff entitled Counting On premiered.

That aired for another 11 seasons before it was canceled amid Jinger’s brother Josh Duggar’s child porn arrest.

He was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to 12-and-a-half years in prison. 

Jinger has been very outspoken about the ‘lasting’ trauma that growing up in a household run by a ‘cult-like’ religion had on her, and is no longer a member of IBLP.

Back in July, Vuolo revealed that the couple endured a ‘deep betrayal’ in the early years of their relationship that left them both extremely ‘shaken.’

The former soccer player, 37, laid bare their struggles during an episode of their podcast.

While reflecting on the things that he and Jinger, 31, had overcome together, he admitted that they went through something ‘deeply unsettling’ soon after they tied the knot in 2016.

‘There was a time in our life very early on our marriage where we experienced some – I describe it as deep betrayal,’ he said.

‘You have relationships in your life that ground you and when those [get shaken] or get removed, you feel like, “What am I doing?”‘

He recalled sitting down with their pastor alongside Jinger, who he described as being in ‘deep tears.’

‘This was a moment when we were both very deeply unsettled, we both felt shaken,’ he continued.

‘But I’ll never forget what [the pastor] said. He said, “Jeremy, I think the Lord’s teaching you how to walk alone.” 

‘Not alone like me away from her or us from the Lord, but the two of us having to be dependent upon [the Lord on our own].’

Jeremy did not divulge what exactly the ‘betrayal’ was, but he specified that it had to do with some ‘people in his life’ and not Jinger’s family.

‘The betrayal wasn’t even family. I know a lot of people listening might try to figure out [what happened],’ he continued.

‘It was people in my life, people I had been really like excited for Jinger to meet and engage with. It was really difficult.’

He said the incident left them with no ‘support’ or ‘infrastructure,’ but added that now, years on, he realizes it was ‘necessary.’

‘Now we have friends who are family to us. We have a deep community that we’re in invested in and involved in – we have everything we didn’t have in that moment,’ he reflected. ‘Those years were necessary.’

Jinger then interjected, adding that it ultimately ‘deepened their relationship’ with each other and with the Lord.

‘I just remember in those times of devotion and prayer, it was so deep. We were just so desperate for the Lord to help us,’ she recalled. 

‘For us as newlyweds, it was huge. We were able to draw closer to each other… we felt so close throughout our relationship and early marriage but that was like a deepening in a whole different level.

‘When you walk through pain and hardship together, it just binds your hearts in a different way.’