We’re just days away from the release of Jinger Duggar’s memoir, and the former reality star is still giving shockingly candid interviews as part of her controversial promotional tour.
Already, Jinger has revealed that she no longer speaks to Josh Duggar and that she blames the cult-like atmosphere of her upbringing for many of the traumas she endured as a child.
Now, she’s opening up about the ways in which her difficult upbringing impacted her psychologically.
Earlier this week, in an interview with podcast host Allie Beth Stucky, Jinger revealed that she spent several years battling an eating disorder.
“For me, it was probably comparing myself with other people and not feeling good enough,” Jinger explained.
Asked by Stucky about the possible causes of her disordered eating, Jinger attributed the condition to “wanting to be accepted” and “wanting to be pretty.”
She added that she “was already thin,” and that she “wasn’t probably going to gain all of this weight.”
“It was something that I was so afraid of,” Jinger added.
“I would try to get up as late as I could, sleep in as long as I could so that I could skip a meal and eat as little as I could at a meal because I didn’t want to get fat.”
In previous interviews, Jinger has been highly critical of her parents, but when discussing her eating disorder, she praised her mother, Michelle Duggar, for her support and compassion.
“I’m struggling with this,” Jinger recalled telling Michelle.
Jinger says that Michelle also “struggled with an eating disorder” and was therefore able to empathize with her daughter’s struggles.
“I would just compare myself with other people all the time,” Jinger explained.
“She helped me work through that, prayed with me, and also helped me with accountability.”
At that point in the interview, Jinger connected the dots and theorized about how her oppressive upbringing might have led to her mental health issues.
“I don’t know exactly how it got to that place but definitely focusing on myself and what others thought of me, instead of what God thinks of me and how he made me and created me to be, that’s what I think led me there,” she said.
Jinger’s book will reportedly focus in large part on her spiritual journey.
She’s explained in recent interviews that her parents’ belief system actually made her feel disconnected from God, and it was only when she discovered more inclusive forms of worship as an adult that she found true peace.
Jinger says she needed to cut ties with her parents’ belief system in order to understand her own spirituality.
Clearly, her approach worked, as Jinger has grown into an accomplished, confident young woman whose literary debut is sure to mark the beginning of a whole new chapter in her career.
These days, commenters are often critical of Jinger’s appearance, with many accusing the 29-year-old of looking “too thin.”
We can only hope that Jinger has reached a point where she’s able to ignore such vitriol and feel secure in the knowledge that she’s living a healthy lifestyle that’s in accordance with her own beliefs.