The former reality star says she hasn't spoken to her brother since before he went to jail for possessing child pornography.
Jinger Duggar Vuolo's new book, Becoming Free Indeed, is not a tell-all about her reality TV-famous family. It's an exploration of her faith journey in recent years -- as she's worked to "disentangle" herself from her ultra-conservative upbringing under the Institute in Basic Life Principles and disgraced pastor Bill Gothard.
"This is not a book about them," Jinger says of her family in the introduction to the book, which was co-written by Corey Williams. "I love my mom, dad and entire family. This is a book about me and my spiritual journey. It is the story of my faith and how I’ve had to figure out what I believe and why I believe it. This is my personal theological memoir."
However, it would be nearly impossible for Jinger to tell her whole story without addressing the headlines that have surrounded her family in recent years -- most notably, her brother, Josh, was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison in May 2022 after being found guilty on two counts of receiving and possessing child pornography.
Jinger sat down with ET's Nischelle Turner ahead of the book's release, where she revealed that she hasn't spoken to Josh in two years, sharing some thoughts for her estranged eldest sibling.
"It's so tough to speak about, and my heart really breaks for the victims and their families, so first and foremost that is always in my mind and in my heart," Jinger admitted. "But my prayer for my brother is that, in this time, he will repent and truly be broken over his sin and so that is something like I said is so hard to discuss and talk about. I really would hope that he would truly change."
Jinger added that she's "always here" for Josh's wife, Anna, and their seven children, but said she's grateful that "justice is being served" in his case.
"I think that is the best way that I can love at this point, is to pray and ask God to do the work that only he can do in his heart," she added.
With six years and four siblings in between them, Jinger said she and Josh weren't particularly close growing up.
"It's not like I had a terrible relationship, but I was also kind of doing my own thing," she explained. "I can't say, like, I saw this coming, because I don't think anybody did."
Through her faith, Jinger said she's found her way toward forgiving her brother, but she noted, "At the same time, forgiveness and trust are two different things."
"There is a line that I know is there," she continued, "and at the same time I would just pray and ask God to change him from the inside out because only God can do that."
In ET's exclusive excerpt from Jinger's book, the former reality star compares her brother's "hypocrisy" to that of Gothard, who stepped down from the IBLP in 2014 in the wake of multiple claims of sexual harassment -- despite denying any wrongdoing.
"[Josh] used his platform, and even his job at the Family Research Council, to promote some of the same ideas Gothard taught," Jinger writes in the book. "But while he looked the part in so many ways, the true Josh appears to be much different. He was living a lie. Even though he claimed to follow Jesus, his actions gave no evidence of a true love for the Lord, a heart changed by the gospel."
Becoming Free Indeed is out now.
RELATED CONTENT:
