Jinger Duggar Vuolo has been more and more candid about growing up in the Duggar family since her book Becoming Free Indeed became a bestseller. As part of telling her story, she’s opened up on topics as varied as her upbringing with Jim Bob and Michelle and even her thoughts on brother Josh Duggar’s arrest and subsequent incarceration. Now someone’s asked her the really hard-hitting question: What happened when she decided to wear pants?
Seriously, though, the Duggar daughters were seen in skirts through the entirety of their notable reality show 19 Kids and Counting. Not wearing pants was a modesty tenet they lived by, and while seemingly even Michelle Duggar has changed her mind about pants in more recent years, when Jinger Duggar made the change, she admitted it was a big deal for her family.
Just having the conversation with them, because it’s a big enough thing in my family. That’s huge. It might seem so small, it seems so insignificant to so many, but for my family that was massive. So, I wanted to let them know, regardless of how things go, I just want to be able to share that.
While it may not be something that fans can easily identify with, the change was a huge deal for her. Speaking on The Unplanned Podcast, Jinger Duggar Vuolo and her husband Jeremy spoke out about what living life in the public eye has in general been like when it comes to changes in their personal lives. For example, when Jinger decided to switch up the types of bottoms she allowed herself to wear, she knew paparazzi would catch them in action, and she wanted to give her parents the benefit of understanding where she was coming from.
I don’t feel like I need to share every little thing with them, now. Even looking at our lives. We are living our lives however we want. We’re not like, Oh I have to call my mom and dad and tell them, ‘OK I’m gonna do this thing differently.’ But that was like one of the first things and also I think the big thing is, just because we’re in the public eye, I knew there was gonna be so much that was gonna blow up. If there was a paparazzi photo while we were out…
Jinger and Jeremy both said they have a “great community” where they live after their big move to California and they sometimes ask advice of “other people” they know in their church. But they still want to loop in her parents, even if they aren’t always asking for permission.
That way they know, and they know it came from a heart of ‘that’s what I feel conviction of or don’t anymore,’ you know? And they can just know from my heart and then we’ll move on. That’s kind of what it was with a couple of different things that I felt convicted of, whether that was [the pants or] like getting a mortgage on a house.
So while she maybe isn’t taking advice from her parents as often these days, she wanted to make it clear she is in a "healthy" place with Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar. Her goal is to show them she’s still a caring daughter, “even if [they] have differences.” But on that note, she did want to point out:
I’m gonna wear pants. But it’s not to, like, make them mad. Those things bother me. If it’s about my family or my kids.
Jinger has even worn shorts as part of her journey, and her sister, Jill, previously spoke out about switching to pants, too. Though in her case she said she had a tough time making the swap, as she’d been conditioned to wear skirts. She said pants “felt wrong” at first, but ultimately she came around, and now has more choice when it comes to her own wardrobe, as well. The times, they are a'changing for the Duggar daughters.
