Hannah and Daniel Neeleman with their eight children. Photo: Ballerina Farm/Instagram
Two days ago, Hannah Neeleman, a Mormon mother of eight children, posted a video on TikTok to her two million followers. It was date night and Neeleman and her husband, Daniel, walked through the long grass in between mooing cows on their Utah ranch.
"When we started our farm, I was swept up in the beauty of learning to make food from scratch," said Neeleman in a voiceover as she and her husband kissed and cuddled their baby.
"It's the world we created and I couldn't love it more," she added.
It seemed like perfect eye candy for the trad wife trend, where modern women take on the role of traditional wives. But for many followers, the video felt like a response to a recent profile in the Times of London that positioned Neeleman as someone coerced into giving up a promising career as a ballerina to raise eight kids as a homemaker on a remote ranch.
What is a trad wife?
Type in the hashtag tradwife to Instagram and TikTok, and you will find millions of posts with immaculately presented women baking bread, milking cows, churning butter, homeschooling large broods of kids and partaking in other pursuits that consumed the time of generations of housewives past. It's a controversial and contradictory movement that swings away from the career woman who optimises her life with help - like a nanny and store-bought dinners - so she can balance a job and family life.
Trad wives often promote values that stem from faith-based backgrounds where heterosexual relationships are the ideal and men are the head of the household.
Who is Hannah Neeleman?
Neeleman, who was a ballerina trained at the prestigious Julliard School in New York City, is married to Daniel, the son of billionaire JetBlue founder David Neeleman. She has more than than 12 million followers across Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
The majority of her eight children were birthed at home without pain medication. She has squeezed milk from a cow straight into her coffee cup. She bakes sourdough bread from scratch.
In January, two weeks after giving birth to her youngest child, she competed in the Mrs. World beauty pageant, including the swimwear segment. "I am still bleeding a little," she told the New York Times.
Her impressive trad wife resume has earned her the unofficial title of "queen" of the trad wives, even though she said she doesn't identify with or use that desciptor on her social media posts. "I feel like we're doing what God wants," she told, the Times of London.
Daniel and Hannah Neeleman. Photo: Ballerina Farm/Instagram
What is Ballerina Farm?
Ballerina Farm is the cattle ranch the family owns and run in Utah. The farm's website sells "mountain-raised meat," sourdough kits and homewares. Ballerina Farm is also the handle for Neeleman's social media accounts.
Why was the Times of London's article controversial?
Reporter Megan Agnew travelled to Ballerina Farm to spend a day with Neeleman hoping to discover if her life was what she showed on social media. Even though Neeleman was granted access to Neeleman for the day, Agnew found it difficult to get answers to her questions.
"Usually I am doing battle with steely Hollywood publicists," Agnew wrote. "Today I am up against an army of toddlers who all want their mum and a husband who thinks he knows better."
During the day, Agnew ended up with scant time with Neeleman alone. When she was out of earshot of her husband, the social media influencer admitted to getting an epidural for the birth of one of her kids, which she said was "amazing." She also seemed to lament giving up her dancing aspirations.
When Agnew did ask Neeleman questions, her husband often interrupted, finishing Neeleman's sentences or rewording what she had said.
The article switched Neeleman, who has been accused of glorifying an idea that women are subservient, from "villain to victim," Glamour magazine wrote. Followers of Neeleman who already believed she was trapped in a life she didn't want, felt vindicated.
"Blink if you need help," wrote a commenter on Neeleman's recent date night TikTok.
Fans of Neeleman and the trad wife movement accused Agnew, who has no children, of coming to the story with preconceived ideas.
Neeleman has not officially commented on the controversy surrounding the article.
