‘Counting On’: Fans Question Jessa Duggar’s Motivation For Her ‘Childhood Memory’ Videos

If fans weren’t completely sold on the idea that Jessa Duggar was launching a damage control campaign on YouTube, they sure are confident now.  Two weeks after the mother of three posted a lengthy video about growing up with Jim Bob Duggar, she was back on the video-sharing platform with yet another long piece of content. This time, Jessa recounted all of her favorite moments with her mother, Michelle Duggar. The sappy video, along with her previously posted content, has family critics debating the motivation behind the videos, and many seem to agree that Jim Bob has crowned Jessa his damage control queen.

Jessa spent 45-minutes talking about Michelle Duggar

Jessa has been busy creating YouTube content. Between videos about feeding picky eaters, and giving haircuts, she’s added a couple of videos that struck family followers as a little strange. Two weeks ago, Jessa uploaded a 52-minute long video about her favorite memories of her father. The tribute video didn’t correlate with any significant event in Jim Bob’s life.

This week, Jessa shared a similar video about her mother, Michelle. The 46-minute upload followed the same format as Jessa’s previous video. She spent the majority of the video recounting her favorite moments with Michelle and discussed what she learned from the mother of 19 about raising a family, just as she did for her father.

Is Jessa Duggar trying to rebut Derick Dillard’s narrative?

Jim Bob, Michelle, and Jessa seem to be busy trying to put a positive spin on the family’s image. Family followers were incredulous about Jessa’s first video, but now that she’s posted a second one, they seem reasonably confident that Jessa was put up to the task by her parents. Why Jessa? The mother of three has managed to cultivate the most significant social media following of her siblings, and also happens to be the most outspoken Duggar, it would seem. She also appears to be entirely financially dependent on her parents.

Aside from Jessa’s tribute videos, the Duggar family is trying to make fans think everything is alright with the Dillards. Shortly before Derick consented to an interview with Without a Crystal Ball, Michelle and Jim Bob took to Instagram to wish Derick a happy birthday, a move that seemed transparent, at best. They hadn’t bothered to address Derick, their daughter, Jill Duggar, or their two grandchildren, for more than two years before the surprise shoutout.

They also recently shared a snapshot of their “visit” to Israel Dillard on his birthday. Derick, Jill, and their two sons are abiding by social distancing recommendations, so Michelle and several younger Duggars never went inside the home. Some family followers noted that the picture was posted after critics suggested Derick and Jill’s children seemed to have almost no relationship with Jim Bob and Michelle.

Will Derick Dillard ever speak out again?

With Jessa working overtime to make her mother and father look good on the internet, critics’ eyes are turned towards Derick. Everyone seems to be wondering if Derick will launch a rebuttal of Jessa’s fond memories. Derick has promised to share more information as he can, but he’s yet to jump back on social media to drop new tidbits. Whether or not that will happen, however, remains unknown.

Another possibility is that Jim Bob and Michelle are trying to spin the narrative now, in anticipation of Derick publishing a book about his life inside the Duggar clan. Derick has made it clear that he’s working on some sort of memoir. How much that will cover Jim Bob and Michelle is unknown, but considering the fact that he’s been willing to speak out against his in-laws on social media, fans are assuming he’ll cover, at least, some juicy details.