Jinger Duggar’s Dad Jim Bob Had ‘Multiple Jobs’ amid Reality TV Fame (Exclusive) ArticlePure

Much of Jinger Duggar Vuolo’s upbringing was captured on her family’s popular reality television series 19 Kids and Counting and its spinoff Counting On. Yet, not all aspects of their story were unveiled on screen.

In her newly released book, People Pleaser: Breaking Free from the Burden of Imaginary Expectations, Jinger opened up about how the famed brood’s “budget was really tight” when she was growing up. So much so, they were unable to dine at fast-food restaurants. She even reflected on an experience at a Taco Bell, where she and her siblings were extended kindness by a family who recognized their financial situation and ordered food on their behalf.

Looking back on her upbringing further, Jinger, 31, recalls her father, Jim Bob Duggar, being “a hard worker.”

“He took on so many jobs. The car business, the towing business. He would do real estate,” she tells PEOPLE. “He tried to do all the things. He had multiple jobs he was juggling for so many years.”

“Of course, the show was a blessing to provide for our family, but he still was working in real estate and all of those things,” she continues. “He worked so hard and really taught us to have a hard work ethic, too, because he wanted all of us to have skills, life skills too.”

Despite stressing the importance of a good work ethic to his children, Jinger notes that she and her siblings “were not encouraged to go to college, which was something, I think, more so in the Bill Gothard teaching, that was maybe a lot of it wasn’t spoken, but it was known that you weren’t encouraged to go that route but to go more of the entrepreneur-like route,” she says, referencing the minister of her former controversial church, the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP).

“I think that with that though, their heart was always to make us realize, ‘Okay, we want you to be diligent, disciplined, hard workers, provide,'” she continues of her parents.

Though things weren’t perfect, Jinger points out that her family’s “lives did turn around a lot after the show.”

“It did provide more flexibility for us, just like a little sigh of relief, because then my dad was not having to take on as many jobs and it was like a blessing,” she says. “I think that, yeah, we were very grateful when that came along, and yeah, I think it changed a lot.”

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The family’s time on reality television concluded in 2020 after the final season of Counting On aired. The series was canceled in 2021 after Jinger’s brother Josh Duggar was arrested (and later convicted) of knowingly receiving and possessing child pornographic materials.

Before Josh’s legal scandal emerged, Jinger says her family “had considered leaving the whole TV side of things” for a while “just because after so many years, it just starts to be like, in a reality show, you feel like you filmed everything that could be filmed.” She and her husband, Jeremy Vuolo, also wanted privacy for their children.

“When the show ended, it was strange. I felt like there was a bit of, and I don’t even know how to say it, maybe an identity crisis, because that’s all you knew. It was like, ‘This is my job. This is what I do. This is just it,'” she explains. “The hardest part was the crew, because they are like family.”

Jinger’s new book, People Pleaser, contains several personal stories about her life with the goal of helping others. In it, she connects her experiences back to her people-pleasing tendencies, recognizing where it all started as she breaks down how she overcame her struggles.

“I wanted to be able to share from my own heart, my personal experiences of how motherhood has gone, how postpartum has been for me, and just break it down and say, ‘Okay, we don’t all have these perfectly curated lives,'” she continues, “‘and I think that everybody needs to see that and understand we don’t need to keep up this facade of who we want people to think we are, but we need to be genuine and real.'”

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People Pleaser: Breaking Free from the Burden of Imaginary Expectations is now available, wherever books are sold.