Money talks — and so do TLC stars when they aren’t earning any.
Jill Duggar grew up on camera as one of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar‘s 19 children. The family’s ultraconservative lifestyle was highlighted on two different reality series — 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On — both of which were ultimately canceled. While Jill and her siblings were largely the focus of both shows, she claimed in 2020 that she was never financially compensated for her time in front of the cameras.
While promoting her 2023 memoir, Counting the Cost, Jill admitted that the topic of money hardly crossed her mind during filming.
“I think I was so conditioned to this belief that we were benefiting from it, from going on this trip or that trip or whatever,” she told People at the time. “It was like, ‘Well, we can buy frozen pizzas instead of beans and rice now because [TLC] is covering these things.’ It was literally so ingrained in me to be grateful.”
Jill estimated in her book that her extended family likely earned about $8 million in nearly a decade of working with the network. With the help of an attorney, Jill and her husband, Derick Dillard, negotiated with Jim Bob for a $175,000 check.
The Duggars aren’t the only unique family to be featured on TLC — and Jill isn’t the only star to speak up about money. Scroll down for financial insights from Sister Wives‘ Gwendlyn Brown and more TLC personalities:
‘Counting On’
Back in 2020, Jill raised eyebrows for claiming that she and Derick “hadn’t been paid for anything” they filmed for 19 Kids and Counting or Counting On until they left TLC in 2018. “Of course, there were perks that came along with filming,” Jill said in a YouTube Q&A, adding that the network covered expenses for various trips that were filmed.
“We hadn’t been paid until we were really pressing about it and ended up getting an attorney involved and stuff,” Jill continued. According to Derrick, the pair “were able to cover a portion at least of what Jill should’ve been paid up until the time we left the show” once they acquired legal representation.
Jill further addressed finances in Counting the Cost and recalled approaching dad Jim Bob about getting paid for her time on the family’s shows. Jim Bob allegedly told Jill and her husband that it “wasn’t a very good idea” for them to receive a percentage of any profits made.
Jill claimed that Jim Bob announced in a subsequent family meeting that he planned to give the boys in the family $80,000. She and Derrick had their suspicions about the offer, which included the signing of a contract with Mad Family Inc. for an additional seven years — “plus an unlimited number of years beyond that if the company chose” — and a lifelong NDA. Jill and Derrick declined the deal.
‘Little People, Big World’
In 2023, Jeremy Roloff‘s wife, Audrey, was asked during an Instagram Q&A whether he still earned royalties from his family’s TLC series, which he left in 2018. Jeremy answered via Audrey’s account, revealing, “Negative, but that would be so awesome to get royalties. Never got royalties, never will.”
He clarified at the time, “I think our last paycheck from [LPBW] was … six years ago now.”
Jacob Roloff‘s wife, Isabel, shared similar insights in 2025 while explaining why they “can’t afford to fully” take over the family’s farm. “They definitely do not pay the kids for reruns haha,” Isabel replied in a TikTok comment when asked whether they still earned money from TLC.
‘Sister Wives’
In a 2025 interview with Teen Vogue, Gwendlyn opened up about her journey filming Sister Wives throughout her childhood. “We just got thrown into fame and thrown into money. And I stopped wanting and needing things,” she said, claiming that the show helped her plural family get out of “a poverty situation” when it aired in 2010.
“The network only paid the parents,” she alleged. “I’m not sure if they did or didn’t expect the parents to pay us kids, but we weren’t paid.”
Gwendlyn claimed that her mom, Christine Brown, made sure that the kids saw some of the money eventually by providing “a certain amount per day or half-day of camera time.” In the end, however, “it certainly wasn’t a fair share.” (A spokesperson for TLC told Teen Vogue at the time that “compensation is handled in accordance with contractual commitments and applicable labor laws and regulations.”)
Hannah Gosselin — one of Jon and Kate Gosselin’s sextuplets — was featured in the same 2025 Teen Vogue profile, which referenced the financial gains Hannah and her siblings experienced from filming their family’s show. (Jon and Kate, who were married from 1999 to 2009, also share twins Cara and Mady.)
“The child labor laws in Pennsylvania were changed in part as a result of the Gosselin kids’ involvement in filming Jon & Kate Plus 8, resulting in legal and financial protections for child actors and reality stars that left Hannah Gosselin with enough money to pay for about half of her college education,” the article noted, citing a 2012 report from a local Pennsylvania radio station.
While specifics weren’t revealed about how much money Hannah made, her father previously hinted that his and Kate’s children “made out [well]” in terms of compensation. “Everything was buried in trusts for them,” he told The Sun in 2024.
