Jinger Duggar And Her Mother Michelle Talk Pants On ‘Counting On’
Jinger Duggar‘s decision to wear pants was just one of the many interesting storylines explored on a rather eventful episode of Counting On that included a visit with American Idol stars, Jeremy Vuolo’s confession that he used to be a big Backstreet Boys fan, and Jana Duggar talking about her love life.
The Duggar Family Blog has already posted a recap of tonight’s episode of Counting On, which is available for viewing on the TLC website. During the episode, titled “The Vuolos Take LA,” Jinger and Michelle had a heart-to-heart talk about the skinny jeans that have had Duggar fans abuzz for over two years. As most fans of the Duggars know, Jinger grew up in a household where girls were only allowed to wear skirts and dresses, so it was a really big deal when photos of the Duggar daughter wearing leggings, jeans, and slacks began appearing on her Instagram page.
However, Michelle and Jinger didn’t make any major revelations about the latter’s decision to ditch her family’s dress code. The topic came up when Jinger and her husband, Jeremy Vuolo, decided to go on a hike to the Hollywood sign during a trip to their future home in Los Angeles. Jinger simply explained that she wore pants for the trek instead of a skirt or dress because they were going to be “going down some steep hills.”
Hiking was actually one of the activities that initially made Michelle Duggar’s husband, Jim Bob, question her decision to switch to only wearing dresses and skirts when the strict Independent Baptist was “born again.” As reported by In Touch Weekly, the Duggar family matriarch touched on the topic in a now-deleted TLC blog post. In it, Michelle explained that her wardrobe choices were all about modesty and her interpretation of what the Bible says about clothing.
“Jim Bob said, ‘What about when we’re riding bicycles or going hiking? Do you think the Lord wants you to wear a dress then? How are you going to do that? What about swimming and all these other things that we do?’ And I said, ‘Well, I don’t know the answer to that, but I’ll cross that bridge when we get there.'”
Michelle has also said that she’s against women wearing pants because she doesn’t think that they are “feminine apparel.” Jinger Duggar revealed that she believes the Lord has led her in a different direction, but she’s “really, really grateful” that her parents taught her the importance of modesty.
As for Michelle, when she and Jinger sat down in front of the TLC cameras to talk about their conflicting views on clothing, she explained that she had “a lot of baggage in my life up until the age of 15.” This included a wardrobe revelation that she’s talked about before. Michelle used to wear a bikini while mowing her family’s lawn, and she later felt guilty about it because she blamed herself for making a male neighbor think sinful thoughts. After praying and reading the Bible, Michelle came to the conclusion that God wanted her to give her wardrobe an extreme makeover.
“And so the best that I knew, and how I understood, I obeyed my Lord, and I just felt like I should wear dresses and skirts,” she said.
Michelle also tried to explain why she made her daughters follow the dress code that she created for herself.
“I think that part of it was just more of…Mama’s the mama, and I’m raising my girls to be modest and honor the Lord in how they represent themselves,” Michelle said.
Jinger admitted that she has “different convictions” than her mom when it comes to clothes, and she even teared up while talking about their conflicting views. However, Michelle said that this is okay because what’s most important to her as a Christian mother is her “children’s relationship with God.”
“I’m really thankful for my mom and I know the tears probably are because we are super close, and just knowing that we have different conviction on this aspect but that she still loves me the same, that just means the world,” Jinger said.
