The Amazon Prime four-part docuseries about the family from Counting On brought a lot of revelations about Bill Gothard and the Institute of Basic Life Principles. Most of the stories out at the moment focus on Jill Dillard and her husband Derick who took part it in. However, there were other people that are not talked about so much. Not everyone’s a TLC star, after all.
Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets was meant to highlight that the IBLP teachings impacted kids and families across the USA. Actually, from social media, it becomes apparent that it’s not confined Stateside. Now, it seems to have become known that what Bill Gotthard taught had some rather bizarre rules. If the premise of the show was to get people talking, the producers certainly managed to get that on point,
This week, Cori Shepherd Stern went onto Reddit and told folks, “I’m Cori Shepherd Stern, EP of SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE – ASK ME ANYTHING.” Well, others who were on the docuseries joined in. And, some really bizarre things were discussed. Chad Harris started the ball rolling. If you are not aware, apart from the Amazon Prime show, he talks a lot about his experiences with the IBLP on TikTok. He asked Cori, “For you personally, what was the most bizarre Gothard rule that you came across that didn’t make it in the documentary?”
Cori replied and suggested that he recall some, of them. So, the Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets castmember said, “Mine was the weird dietary rules, specifically the ones focused on eating the “biblical” kind of bread to avoid affecting your “gut brain”, which is an actual term Gothard used. Dude had an obsession with constipation. It was super weird and gross.”
There were many comments from those who watched Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets. As there are too many to show here, we selected some examples:
Potential-Cress8818: I remember him saying, “The whiter the bread, the sooner the dead!
PoetryOfLogicalIdeas: Sounds like he was reading up on Kellogg and his crazy idea to keep people from masturbating by serving them dull tasteless corn flakes.
LG0110: What about the book for the honeymoon? I believe they include an enema for the honeymoon kit.
Rocket_Shep OP (Cori): I was fascinated because I grew up fundie – and the teachings had definitely creeped into our church, too. (But we were the speaking in tongues crowd, so we couldn’t be IBLP. Same submissiveness, same punishments, etc)”
Interestingly, it might not be the end of Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets. At least if Cori Shepherd Stern has anything to do with it. When folks complained the show didn’t go into the Bringing Up Bates family enough, she replied. Her comment said, “Oh man! We wanted to go into the Bates!!! It was just so hard to be able to get everything in. SEASON TWO!!.”
Plus, she talked about God Pods and suggested that people search for it. Well, that opens another deep rabbit hole.
What are your thoughts about the bizarre beliefs in the IBLP? Let us know in the comments below.
Be sure to catch up on everything happening with the Counting On alums right now. Come back here often for more Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets spoilers, news, and updates.
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