TLC cast her 14-person family in its reality empire. Behind the scenes, it was ‘life and death’

When Jessica Willis Fisher was in her early 20s, her life looked different from that of most people her age. Fisher, a sunny, fiddle-playing blonde and gifted singer-songwriter, was the eldest child in the family and the unofficial leader of the group, known as the Willis Clan, which had risen to fame through a “Sound of Music”-themed contest on “Today” and a successful run on “America’s Got Talent.” They were, in short, a perfect fit for TLC, which became a cable powerhouse with popular shows about large, conservative Christian families such as the Duggars of “19 Kids and Counting” and the Gosselins of “Jon & Kate Plus 8.” For a brief moment, “The Willis Family” seemed poised to be the network’s next big hit, garnering more than a million viewers a week in its first season. As their fame steadily grew, Willis’ beliefs “metastasized into the most unhealthy, extreme thing,” Fisher said. “When I questioned why we were doing TV, Dad said it was God’s will for our family,” Fisher writes. Meanwhile, there’s life and death stuff going on.” Shows such as “The Willis Family” tap into “nostalgia for the way we never were,” Fisher continued.