In 2020, Jana Duggar famously told viewers of Counting On that she was looking for the “one.” After years of “strict requirements” for a suitor, she had relaxed her self-imposed rules and admitted she would follow a man “to the ends of the earth for love.” Are her rules the same? What do we know about Jana Duggar’s romantic life? Let’s take a deep dive into what the eldest Duggar daughter has said about love.
Jana Duggar talks about love and her 5-year plan for marriage
In a 2019 confessional for the TLC series Jill and Jessa: Counting On, Jana Duggar admitted, “I don’t really know what the next five years look like.” She continued, “I guess in some ways [I’ve] got hopes and dreams like, ‘Well, maybe I’ll meet the one and get married and have kids.’”
“I’m not just out to get married to the first [suitor] that comes along. I mean, sometimes it can be tempting. It’s like, ‘Oh, I really want to be married.’ [Especially] in those moments where your siblings, who are married and have little ones, are going out on dates and doing their things,” Jana shared.
Then, in 2020, Duggar explained in a different Counting On episode that she “used to be a little more strict” when it came to what she wanted in a man. She expanded her view of love and realized a potential suitor didn’t have to hail from her home state of Arkansas.
“So now, it’s more like, OK, if I love the guy, I’ll follow him to the ends of the earth. I’ll want to go wherever he is. So far, I just haven’t found that one,” she said.
Duggar admitted she searched for someone who shared her love of working with their hands. “I want dirt under the nails,” she joked.
As of 2023, Jana remains unmarried. She reportedly has moved out of the family home and into a tiny abode on her parents’ property.
Is Jana Duggar still under Jim Bob Duggar’s ‘umbrella of authority?’
As the first-born Duggar daughter, Jana has spent most of her life tending to her younger siblings. As per the Duggar family’s conservative religious beliefs, women cannot work outside the home. Their primary purpose is to marry and bear children.
Therefore, as a woman who has not yet married, Jana remains under her father, Jim Bob Duggar’s “umbrella of authority.” This is an IBLP [Institute in Basic Life Priciples] term where the head of the household leads their family, and wives and children fall under their protection.
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If a woman is unmarried, she remains under this “umbrella” until she weds. Then, she falls under her husband’s authority.
Jana remains unmarried as the only one of the oldest Duggar daughters under Jim Bob’s direction. She reportedly helps in the home and with the younger children while maintaining the family’s extensive garden and home renovation tasks.
Is Jana Duggar financially independent from her parents?
At 33 years old, Jana Duggar has never held a regular job that generated a weekly paycheck. This is due to the IBLP’s beliefs that women should not work outside the home.
She is reportedly financially dependent on her parents, Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar. As revealed in the Prime Video series Shiny Happy People, Jim Bob did not pay his children their allotted salaries throughout their years as stars of several TLC series.
The family earned an estimated $25-$45K paycheck per each episode of their TLC series for over seven years. Jim Bob was the primary payee throughout the runs of both shows.
According to Jill and Derick Dillard, who participated in the documentary, Jim Bob later offered to pay the older Duggar children a lump sum of money for their participation in the show.
However, Derick told the cameras, “The amount that he ended up paying in a lump sum to each person, I don’t think it would be a coincidence that it would be very close to what minimum wage would be up to 18.”
Jill added, “But in order to receive that, you had to sign another deal with my dad, his production company, Mad Family Inc. It would be like forever.’”
Elements of this story were first reported by People Magazine, Entertainment Tonight, and Fox News.
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