Jinger (Duggar) Vuolois opening up about what it was like to grow up in the public eye.
Jinger, 27, was around 10 years old when her family began filming for a Discovery Health Channel documentary that then paved the way for their ultra-popular TLC series,19 Kids and Counting,which aired from 2008 through 2015.
Later, she and several of her sisters starred onCounting On,which was canceled earlier this week amid thechild pornography chargesfacing her older brotherJosh Duggar. (He has pleaded not guilty and awaits a November trial.)
“I think a lot of people do look into fame, and they think it’s all beautiful, it’s all wonderful, and yes, as I’m saying, there are tons of perks, but then, you also have to wrestle through a lot,” she says on the episode, posted Thursday.
She continues, “They can think, ‘Oh, you don’t wrestle with anything, you don’t struggle with being depressed one day,’ you know? Or, like, your day hasn’t gone as you want, and how do you get through that? I think it’s been more challenging for me personally to figure out how to move past that, and how to truly open up to people.”
Jinger Duggar/instagram
Elsewhere in the podcast episode, Jinger says that when things do get difficult for her and husbandJeremy Vuolo, they turn to their faith.
“We do all feel these things, we have times where we’re walking through very challenging deep, dark times and other people may not know about it or they may not understand that that’s something that’s common to all of us as humans,” she says.
“We all walk through difficulties and challenges and that is definitely something I think about for us,” she adds. “We are people of faith and we have faith in God and so I think for me in those times when I wrestle the most, I just run to God.”
Jinger says that the tabloid headlines and opinions of her family online can be particularly difficult for her to handle.
Jeremy Vuolo and Jinger (Duggar) Vuolo with daughter Evangeline Jo.TLC/Counting On
Jinger, who shares 7-month-oldEvangeline JoandFelicity, turning 3 in July, with husband Jeremy, also says that the paparazzi takes a toll on her mindset, especially now that she has children and is living in Los Angeles rather than her native Arkansas.
“In that moment I was thinking, ‘Wow,'” she says. “It just feels so strange.”
RELATED VIDEO: Jinger Duggar Recalls the Moment Brother Josh’s Past Molestation Scandal Was Made Public in 2015
The stress of it all has led her to sometimes think she’d rather not be a public figure at all, Jinger says, noting that because she was so young when19 Kids and Countingbegan, she never really had a say in the matter.
“I’ve told Jer a couple times, ‘I just don’t want to be in the public eye! I just don’t want to be there, I just don’t want to be here, I don’t want my kids to have people looking in on their lives and picking it apart,'” she shares.
“If I post a photo on Instagram, it’s like, immediately you’ll have people who will say, ‘Oh, what a cute family photo!’ And then you’ll have those who will say really mean things, even about your kids. And it’s like, ‘She’s2! Don’t say anything about her, she can’t even defend herself,'” Jinger continues.
“There are days where I just wish [I] could say, ‘Oh, no one knows who I am, ever again,'” she says. “But that’s never gonna be true for me because people already know who I am. People can always look me up.”
source: people.com
