Jill Dillard has experienced quite the metamorphosis over the last few years, shedding her Fundie cocoon (not to mention her long hair and denim knee-length skirt), and becoming her own person outside of her father Jim Bob Duggar‘s control. She recently revealed she drinks alcohol, which caused quite the stir on social media. 

In a new Q&A video posted to their family website, the former Counting On star and her husband Derick Dillard tackled a variety of topics, including how Jill’s siblings feel about all of the changes she’s making; if they plan to have more kids; whether or not they would get tattoos and more!

On tattoos:

“We’re not against tattoos…I don’t think that Biblically, which is how we want to make our decisions as Christians, that there’s something wrong with it,” Jill said. “Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, is what we believe, so we want to take good care of what God has given us, but I think it would be a decision for [each] person. Personally, we have nothing against them. I just think it would be really painful.

Surprisingly, Jill stated that she might like to get a tattoo someday.

“I’m a very sentimental person so I could see myself getting a tattoo, except for the fact that I hate needles,” she said. “The pain part of it. One click of the nose piercing thing was painful enough.”

On having more children in the future:

Jill and Derick only have two children which, by Duggar standards, is well under the average for a couple married as long as they have been. (After all, Jill’s brother Joe and his wife Kendra have been married three year less than Jill and Derick and they’re already on Baby No. 3!)

Jill and Derick stated that they do want more kids; however they’re not sure how many more. 

“We would love more kids if God chooses to give us more,” said Jill. “I don’t know that we have a number [of how many more kids], but probably not 20 kids, but, again, we’re not going to rule anything out. If God has us run an orphanage or something then maybe we’d have more than that! I don’t know. 

“Derick’s mom was adopted so adoption has always had a place in our hearts,” she added.

On her changing style:

Jill stated that, years ago, she may have wanted to do things like get her nose pierced or wear pants, but that she was too worried about what others (especially those close to her) would say.

“Even if I liked something before, maybe I wouldn’t have done it because of maybe the backlash I would get or something, from people close to me or something. I just hate confrontation so maybe I would have avoided it. But I think growing as a person, growing as a couple, is helpful.”

She appears to still need Derick’s approval to make changes to her appearance, though.

“When Derick told me he was cool with me getting my nose pierced…I was like, ‘Really? You like it?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, I think it’s cool.’ We decided that was cool and I think because of the journey we had already been on as a couple, I was more comfortable with decisions that we make as a family,” she said.

“Basically having healthy boundaries, and being OK with other people not being OK. As long as we knew the decisions were not wrong, they could just be ones that other people don’t make for themselves. That’s good for us.”

Wearing pants: 

“I think the first time I wore pants was to an amusement park….other that in the snow or whatever,” Jill said. “[That was the first time] I wore them out of my house.”

Derick said that once they stopped appearing on ‘Counting On,’ they felt more free to make decisions for themselves, because they knew the public wouldn’t be judging as much.

“I feel like not being closely associated with the show [‘Counting On’] anymore allowed that decision to happen more organically,” Derick said.

Jill agreed, noting, “I knew I wasn’t going to have to pick apart everything multiple times.”

Jill said the producers peppered her with questions while they were on the show.

“Nothing against it but, like, [you were], not interrogated but kind of, about everything,” Jill said. “We were able to make that decision for ourselves and know that there is nothing wrong with it. And, for wearing pants, we had talked about it. For me, growing up, I had always worn skirts or a dress. But that was something that as we were growing as a couple, and as the Bible says, leave and cleave, and re-evaluating things.

“It was definitely not a reactionary thing…it was something we were reevaluating and for me, I felt like I could be modest and wear pants,” Jill said. 

On how she found the courage to make changes in her life:

“Therapy’s been really helpful. But we haven’t changed who we are as people. As Christians, we want to have the Bible be our standard,” Jill said, later added, “Being OK with other people not being OK, only to a certain degree.”

“You don’t want to just, like, not listen to anyone. But the people who are good role models to you, other fellow believers, people that are in your group, you want to listen to them and listen to their cautions,” Jill said. “…You don’t want to be overly fearful of other people and be led by fear. Both of us are people-pleasers , so you have to grow as a person and not just be a people-pleaser…I think it’s about balance.”

Again, Derick brought up the fact that they are no longer considering how Jill’s family, or the show’s fans, will react to what they do. 

“We just feel like we have the freedom now to make more decisions that we might have otherwise, but we are in a different place now where we can actually make those decisions,” Derick added. “So, like Jill was saying, we haven’t changed as people. They’re decisions we probably would have made before.”

“Some things maybe I wouldn’t have [done] before, but with more research, scripturally, I feel like my views have changed a little bit,” Jill said. “As Christians we still want to base everything on the Bible so that part of us has not changed. But maybe our interpretations of some of it has. Basically our ultimate goal is to glorify God in our actions and everything we do, and our decisions that we make.” 

On how her family feels about the changes she’s made: 

Jill said that, for the first time, she doesn’t feel like she has to get the OK from her parents and/or siblings to make life decisions. Some of her siblings, however, are not too pleased with the changes she’s made to her life.

“We don’t feel like we have to discuss it with them, prior to or after or whatever,” she said. “But obviously those conversations come up, and are they supportive? Not always. Everyone’s going to have their opinions about different things. I feel like some of my siblings have more to say about it than others.

“Some of them are more like, ‘I’m happy for whatever y’all are deciding. I’m just glad that y’all are making decisions together as a couple,'” Jill said. “Not all of them are cool with it. Some of them are more cool with it than others.”

(Sadly, she didn’t tell us which of the siblings are the judgy ones.)

“But, again…you want to have deference but you also don’t want to be controlled by something that someone else is going to think,” Jill added.

Derick added that, now, they don’t take advice from everyone.

“We definitely only get counsel from certain people,” Derick piped in. 

“It’s important to have people in your life to get counsel from who are not just ‘yes’ people you admire,” Jill added.

Watch the full video below!

RELATED STORY: Former ‘Counting On’ Star Jill Dillard Explains Why She Now Drinks Alcohol Despite Her Family’s Disapproval: “My Parents Would Not Be Happy With It”

(Photos: YouTube)