Jill Duggar Gives Rare Shoutout to Estranged Dad Jim Bob, Praises Him for Her ‘Exciting and Adventurous’ Childhood

Jill Duggar Dillard is looking back on her time growing up in the Duggar household.

In an Instagram post in honor of Father’s Day on June 15, the Counting On alum, 34, paid tribute to dads in her life. She recalled the good times she had with her own father Jim Bob Duggar years before her estrangement from him.

“Happy Father’s Day to my own dad @duggarfam who always made time for us kids and kept things exciting and adventurous growing up, including the family bike rides, work days at the car lot, meals of cold butter beans with ketchup and BBQ tunafish sandwiches,” she wrote.

She also paid tribute to her husband Derick, who is the father to their three children, Israel David, Samuel Scott and Frederick Michael.

“ILYSM and I’m so proud of you and I know your dad would be too,” she wrote of Derick alongside a series of family photos. “Watching you with our kids melts my heart and reminds me how blessed I am to get to do life with you by my side! Thanks for loving well and pointing us back to Jesus through all the ups and downs. Xoxoxo.”

The post included photos of the family over the years — including a visit to the gravesite of their late daughter Isla Marie. Jill and Derick, 36, announced their pregnancy loss in April 2024.

Jill also thanked her late father-in-law, who she “never had the privilege of meeting this side of eternity.”

“I get a little glimpse every day into the man you were just by being married to a wonderful son you helped raise,” she shared. “Thank you for teaching him to love Jesus, work hard, treat women with respect, be a man of integrity and not be afraid to show compassion and care to others.” 

She concluded: “I am forever grateful and look forward to catching up in person one day on the other side!”

The post comes six months after Jill and Jim Bob appeared to spend some rare time together during the Christmas season. 

In an Instagram carousel shared by brother James Duggar on Christmas Day, Jill and husband Derick could be seen chatting with the Duggar patriarch, 59, during a family get together.

Nearly a year before the gathering, Jill said on the Unplanned Podcast in January 2024 that she couldn’t remember the last time she saw her parents, although they have spoken since the release of her 2023 tell-all book.

When asked if they’ve read it, she said, “I’ve heard that they did … They, like, listened to it on an audiobook or something.”

“They’re my parents. I’m gonna tread lightly. I also don’t want to create more controversy,” she added. “It’s kind of like when you get together on the holidays, and there are certain things that you don’t want to just bring up. It’s probably a sore subject.”

Jill and Derick then tried to remember when they last saw Jim Bob and Michelle in person. She recalled it being after the birth of their youngest son in July 2022.

“We saw them at a birthday party … Joy and Austin’s like, one of their kid’s birthday thing or something,” she said. “Or a baby announcement or something, I don’t know, some kind of family function.”

In the past, Jill has spoken out about her disdain for her upbringing and the family’s involvement in the religious organization Institute in Basic Life Principles.

During an exclusive interview with PEOPLE ahead of her book Counting the Cost in September 2023, the former reality star explained that she considered the organization, founded by minister Bill Gothard, to be a “cult.”

“My dad even said somewhat recently on a family group text, he was like, ‘You owe your life to Mr. Gothard,’ ” she said at the time. “I’m like, ‘No,’ I think that you just have to not look at the sugarcoating, or whatever. They try and gloss it up and repackage it. But you have to look at the long haul, how it really flushed out. What do these principles look like.”

Jill also shared that filming her family’s reality shows — 19 Kids and Counting and its spinoff Counting On — impacted her relationship with Derick as she struggled to say “no” to her father and the filming demands.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“It definitely got between us,” she said of how she and Derick began fighting over the show. “No matter your age, you are to obey your parents’ wishes and you even have to ask them for their blessing for any major moment in your life. That could be buying a house, moving to a different state, where to go to school. We were dealing with this a lot when we were trying to make decisions for our family, and we were really wrestling back and forth with it.”

Derick added that Jim Bob would allegedly “weaponize the relationship and say, ‘Is this you, Jill, or is this you, Derick? Are you leading your wife astray and doing things that are not supportive of marriage?’ “