When Jill Dillard posted a few family photos to her Instagram last night in honor of the 4th of July, she probably never expected to get the backlash that she did. The photos– one of which featured her husband Derick Dillard— left 19 Kids and Counting fans wondering if there is something seriously wrong with Derick.
The photo of Derick showed a man that looks dramatically different than the guy Jill married two years ago.
Fans have been wondering for months if Derick is sick, and the most-recent photo only amped up the suspicions that Derick’s health has declined since he and Jill moved to Central America last year. (Please note that The Ashley is not stating that Derick is, indeed, sick.)
“Derick doesn’t look very good,” one concerned fan wrote in the comments below the photo. “I so hope he isn’t ill. Each photo I see of him looks worse…”
“Derick looks like he has lost too much weight,” another wrote. “His pictures are becoming disturbing to look at.”
“Derick looks very sick, and undernourished. Looks like his hair is falling out as a result as well,” another concerned fan commented. “Please take care of each other.”
Most all of the 500+ plus comments left on the photo mentioned Derick’s appearance and/or weight loss, but Jill did not respond to any of the comments to confirm or deny that Derick is ill.
Other fans offered up possible reasons for Derick’s drastic change in appearance and weight.
“He’s an individual heavily involved in missions,” one person wrote. “He probably does quite a bit of fasting… a biblical practice that many Christians are instructed to do but have never learned to practice.”
Several other fans suggested that Derick’s weight loss may be due to the surgeries he had on his jaw last year.
Derick has not responded to any of the comments about his health, but he did recently tweet that Jill is not expecting another child…yet.
Compare the two photos below to see the drastic change in Derick’s appearance. The photo on the left was posted yesterday, while the photo on the right shows what Derick looked like just nine months ago.
The Ashley has reached out to the show’s representatives for comment on this, but has not yet heard back. She will update this story if more information becomes available.
UPDATE! Jill has (sort of) addressed the health of herself and Derick in a new blog post. Click here to read what she said.
(Photos: Instagram)
44 Responses
Could he have become infected with some sort of parasite while they were in Central America? The photo comparison is incredibly disturbing. I hope they don’t stop looking for answers – I know someone who had a parasite and wasn’t diagnosed properly until she had wasted away to almost nothing. 🙁 Scary stuff.
He looks 10 years older!
He looks ten years older!
If he would shave and cut his hair he would look so much better.
Wow huge forehead.
He looks like a crack addict
What I see is two terrible haircuts. Can a barber please help him out?
Leave him alone hes just skinny nothing to see here move along
Don’t worry, everybody…He’s full…on GOD!
Living in a fake mission field, being grifters and living a life of judgment and hate is taking a toll on him. Welcome to the Duggar Cult!! Where you are Not allowed to visit doctors and feel the need post ridiculous quotes dissing LBGTQ, Catholics and Muslims to make yourself (and your grifting lying family) feel better. Pedophile protecting bigots.
Why did he have jaw surgery? I haven’t watched the show in years, I just read some of the recaps….
that was years ago there has been pics of him eating pizza and chicken wings down there most likely got addicted to pain piil
That’s quite the speculation. A surgery, possible weight loss, a bad haircut, and an instagram photo do not a pill addiction make.
Yeesh. He looked terrible before and looks terrible now.
I’d still take him over that goofy Ben any day of the week!
Looks like hes been forced to eat tater tot casserole and uncooked cans of peas…oh wait
I don’t follow the Duggars as much as I used to- I mainly just read the recaps so I don’t know what he looked like before surgery or braces but a few months ago I saw a picture of him and Jill and thought he was too skinny and looked ill but now I’m convinced he has something going on. Someone asked if we thought Jill is on birth control and honestly I don’t think they have sex..
Even if his jaw surgery caused issues initially, it wouldn’t *still be causing them, unless it wasn’t done properly. He would have had far more problems earlier on than he has recently-and he didn’t, he actually recovered well and quickly(which one could attribute to his good health at the time-though the Duggars are the only reason he had the braces and surgery done to begin with). I highly doubt it is his jaw causing issues, unless he managed doing some kind of damage to it since then. I’ve had that exact same surgery, it’s not quite what people seem to think it is, lol. He could simply have terrible nutrition, or at least be making terrible nutritional choices-it’s not as if they are living somewhere in luxury. The whole idea of him fasting and wasting away because of it, is ridiculous, for a couple of reasons. It would negate the entire purpose of fasting in the first place(fasting when you, yourself, are in ill health is not advised and is frowned upon, heavily, and fasting that causes you to become ill or lose weight is extremely frowned upon), and their specific church does not practice the fasting ritual at all anyway.
He could of got addicted to pain meds
He was always a super skinny person to begin with but now he looks almost sickly. I hope he is ok. You would think with everyone saying thing for months about his health that they would come forward and say something if he is ok.
I would think that if something was even remotely wrong, the mission board who he is there under would give him no choice but to return home and get things taken care of! Not only would that be best for him it would also be a risk for them to allow him to stay on the mission field, sick and not improving! Get better Derrick!! Praying for you guys…..
They don’t report to any “Mission Board;” their mission trip is fake, and they admitted to misusing funds given to them for their “trip.”
He looks horrible, his teeth included. He needs To see a doctor, stat.
He still looks the same just a lil older people leave him alone about how he looks
He looks like a drug addict.
I was thinking serial killer. Very Charles Manson in Aquarius
Derrick needs to come back to the states and get proper medical help. He is severely ill; my mom had that same look and come to find out she needed her gall bladder removed as well as treatment for her liver and thyroid. In his condition derrick won’t last much longer.
straight up looks like he has a SERIOUS drug addiction. wtffffffff
straight up looks like he has a SERIOUS drug addiction. wtffffffff
He was already a very slim, tall, lanky guy in general. Even a losing a few pounds can dramatically change his facial features & body. Look at women & men who lost weight and their faces look different after. Plus who knows if he is getting the correct nutrition (protein rich diet) over there. I don’t know if he’s sick, but I’m assuming it’s the jaw surgery combined with not getting the best nutritional needs over there for his body type.
I’m very thin & the only way I can gain weight is to eat every 2-4 hours along with a heavy protein diet + work out hours a day. Too expensive to buy all that food to try to keep weight on.
Lucky I wish I had that problem. I mean this in a good way.
Not that it’s any of my business but I’m curious if Jill is using birth control. I wonder if the only reason they haven’t gotten pregnant again is because of the threat of her contracting the Zika virus while down there. Maybe they decided to postpone the possibility of another child until she’s safely back in the US?
I doubt that casue that’s not how they roll. No birth control whatsoever and if they have a baby with issues that was “God’s will”.
I think he looks like a dude that had jaw surgery. That’ll do a number on you. Weight loss is common with that. I feel like it just looks like a stupid haircut, a little scruff, some late nights, and a dumb instagram filter. I’d be pretty bummed if someone said my pictures were “becoming disturbing to look at.”
But why would they not simply say that? That he has lost weight due to the jaw surgery?
Maybe he caught something there and TLC want to keep a lid on that cause it is a story line.
Wow, a lot of people got mad at that comment. Was it because I called his haircut stupid? Whatever. Anyway, I’m sure that he’s lost weight due to a combo of a bunch of things. I imagine that his gastrointestinal tract and immune system took a while to adjust to the new location, lifestyle, diet, climate, ecosystem etc… There are people that lose weight easily- too easily almost. I’m not one of those people (booooo), but my BF is. He has to make a concentrated effort to keep weight on. I’m also a person that gets really visible dark circles under my eyes immediately if I don’t get quite enough sleep OR if I get TOO much sleep. It’s ridiculous. I look sick or strung out and some of those instagram-type filters seem to make me look worse- more sick or half dead. The dude has a hint of eye bags in every picture I’ve seen of him (I’ve only seen like 3 though, so I could be wrong). Plus, I really do think that his hair makes a difference. He looks a little skeletal with that forehead exposed.
I guess I feel like the guy doesn’t really owe an explanation to the world- especially if it’s, ya know, sometimes I just look shitty for a while…
You could be right about the story line too. I just didn’t think the guy looked that different.
Getting those braces and the subsequent surgeries has done him no favors. He was on a missions trip before in Nepal and he did not look like that. He seems to be having a very hard time gaining the weight he lost. I hope they would put his health before anything else but I I don’t have high hopes.
He looks like a homeless wine-o. Maybe it’s time to see a doctor.