Jinger Duggar reveals strict parents banned her from courting her now husband Jeremy Vuolo for five months after they met

JINGER Duggar has revealed her parents’ true feelings towards now-husband Jeremy Vuolo ahead of their courtship.

The Counting On alum shared the shocking confession in her new memoir, Becoming Free Indeed.

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In the book released Tuesday, Jinger admitted Duggar patriarch Jim Bob, 57, and matriarch Michelle, 56, didn’t like Jeremy at first.

In fact, the conservative parents of 19 did not initially allow the former soccer star to court their daughter.

Jinger wrote: “Jeremy and I were not arranged by my mom and dad.

She then shared that it took her parents months to befriend the idea of ​​Jinger spending time with the sportsman-turned-minister.

“But it took more than five months for our relationship to start because initially we didn’t have my parents’ approval.

“They wanted to meet Jeremy. His background and theology were different from ours and that gave my parents pause,” the ex-TV star explained.

Following her family’s strict Christian rules, Jinger and the rest of her siblings needed their parents’ approval before they could court.

They were also forbidden from holding hands or kissing, and were required to have a chaperone with them at all times during courtship.

Jinger, 29, even admitted she wasn’t sure Jeremy, 34, was her eternal love when she got the green light from her dad.

“When my father gave Jeremy and I permission to go to court, I wasn’t convinced that I wanted to marry him. I loved being with him, I respected him, but I didn’t know him well enough to say whether or not I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.”

She added that her courtship made it “difficult” to have deep conversations as an escort was always present.

Despite Jinger’s reservations, she and Jeremy celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary in November 2022.

They currently reside in Los Angeles, California, where Jeremy is the minister of Grace Community Church.

There they raise their two daughters: Felicity, four, and Evangeline, two, who keep them out of the limelight.

‘BUMP IN THE STREET’

However, the couple still struggles, especially because they live so far from their families — Jeremy’s parents live in Pennsylvania, while most members of the Duggar clan live in Arkansas.

In early 2021, The US Sun exclusively revealed that Jinger and Jeremy stepped back from some of their work projects after being “overwhelmed”.

A source said they wanted to focus on their “ailing” marriage.

The project they put on hold was their popular podcast, The Hope We Hold.

The TLC reality stars launched their Christian show in June 2020 and have expanded their following — with hundreds of thousands of fans.

A source close to the couple said: “Jinger and Jeremy are experiencing a bump along the way and want to take a step back from the podcast for a while to focus on their marriage.

“They’ve been juggling a lot with a new baby, their lifestyle brand and book releases, all in the midst of a pandemic, they’re feeling a bit overwhelmed and their relationship has suffered.

“They are still very much in love and no divorce is on the horizon, they just want to work things through and come out of this difficult time together and stronger as a family.”

NEED HELP

Another source revealed that the husband and wife planned to hire a nanny to look after their two children as they struggled amid the pandemic with no family close by.

The insider said: “Jinger is particularly exhausted and Jeremy has been taking time off work to look after the kids, but they are considering hiring a nanny to give them some rest.

“Things have been difficult and they feel the strain, but they do everything they can to keep their family together and also spend time focusing on each other.”

The pair appear to be in good spirits now as Jeremy has been supporting Jinger on the road while she promotes her memoir.

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