As you probably know, 2015 was a difficult year for the Duggar family, so it’s not surprising that Jill Duggar-Dillard decided to close things out by paying loving tribute to her husband with what she thought would be a simple, scandal-free selfie.
Unfortunately for her, nothing has been going according to plan for the Duggars lately:
Jill posted that pic last week with a caption that reading simply, “I [heart Emoji] my hubby.”
The image garnered lots of attention, but not because of Jill’s romantic sentiments.
Many fans pointed out that Dillard’s appearance has changed considerably since his and Jill’s wedding last year, and the comment board on Jill’s Instagram page quickly became a place to diagnose Derick and debate the cause of his drastic weight loss.
“He looks anorexic,” one fan commented. “His face is gaunt and his eyes are sunk in. Compare wedding day photos with this photo. Definitely something wrong.”
“Did he have a stroke or something?” wrote another. “Even on their 3 episode special he had some weird stuff going on with his face.”
Theories put forth by fans ran the gamut from neurological impairments to religious fasting, but the real reason for Derick’s changing is likely much simpler.
If you go back and watch 19 Kids and Counting online, you may notice that the Duggar clan is strangely fixated on teeth.
It may be for that reason that Derick underwent oral surgery to extend his palette and began wearing braces shortly after his marriage to Jill.
Such procedures have been known to result in weight loss, as they often require patients to adhere to liquid diets for several weeks at a time.
Of course, the stress of the past year probably didn’t help Derick put the pounds back on.
In addition to the Josh Duggar sex scandals that made tabloid headlines, Jill and Derick were accused of lying about their missionary work in Central America in order to scam fans out of donations.
It would be a lot for anyone to deal with, and unlike his wife, Derick is no reality TV veteran.
Hopefully, the new dad will just keep a low profile and spend time with his family in 2016.
