Jill Duggar counts that Megyn Kelly interview as one of her big regrets.
The 19 Kids and Counting alum lamented her decision to appear on Fox News in 2015, coming forward with sister Jessa Duggar as two of the girls that brother Josh Duggar had inappropriately touched as a teen.
Jill, now 32, recalled the aftermath in the new Prime Video docuseries Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets, saying, "In hindsight, I wouldn't have done the Megyn Kelly stuff."
However, she felt compelled to speak up on her family's behalf in order to help their TLC show remain on air. (The series was canceled one month later, but the sisters' Counting On spinoff premiered in December 2015.)
"There was an urgency to figure out how the show was going to be handled in the wake of 2015 events," Jill said. "As far as recovery and damage control, you just feel like the burden and the weight falls on you to, like, help—'cause you're the only one who can."
In 2015, Josh acknowledged wrongdoing in a statement to People, saying in part, "As a young teenager, I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends." Three months later, their dad Jim Bob Duggar spoke with Megyn Kelly about how Josh had "improperly touched some of our daughters" when he was 14. Jill and Jessa said they were sleeping at the time and weren't aware of the incident.
But now, Jill is confessing that the sit-down is "something that I'm not proud of," explaining, "If I hadn't felt obligated to, one, do it for the sake of the show, and two, do it for the sake of my parents, I wouldn't have done it."
In fact, Jill revealed in the Amazon series that she never planned for Josh's molestation allegations to come to light.
Jill's husband Derick Dillard added that he would not call her appearance on Fox News "voluntary," saying she was like "collateral damage" in Josh's scandal.
"Basically being called on to carry out a suicide mission," Derick said in Duggar Family Secrets. "You're gonna destroy yourself, but we need you to take the fall so you can carry the show forward because the show cannot fail. And they were gonna do whatever they could to get the return on their investment."
One day before the docuseries' release, Jim Bob and wife Michelle Duggar denounced the project, saying in a statement they would rather "repair damaged relationships" in a private setting instead of in the public eye.
"The recent 'documentary' that talks about our family is sad because in it we see the media and those with ill intentions hurting people we love," Jim Bob and Michelle wrote on the Duggar family website in part. "Like other families, ours too has experienced the joys and heartbreaks of life, just in a very public format. This 'documentary' paints so much and so many in a derogatory and sensationalized way because sadly that's the direction of entertainment these days."
E! News reached out to Jim Bob and Michelle, as well as TLC and IBLP, for comment on claims made in the series and has not heard back.
Here are more bombshells from the documentary Duggar Family Secrets: