Ballerina Farm just responded to the 'trad wife' article controversy
The discourse around 'trad wives' (a label applied to women who've happily adopted traditional gender roles and who are now living, baking and child-rearing as they want – or brainwashed women who are the antithesis of modern feminism, depending on who you ask) has been rumbling on for a while now. But last week, the internet's collective eyes swivelled firmly towards one so-called trad wife content creator in particular: Hannah Neeleman, better known by her handle of Ballerina Farm. All thanks to an article that went viral about her family – something she's now called out in a new social media post.
But who or what is Ballerina Farm, and who is she married to? And why has a recent article got people talking about her and her family?
Who is Ballerina Farm?
Ballerina Farm is the social handle used by Hannah Neeleman, the 34-year-old woman behind an Instagram account with over 9 million followers and another 7.6 million over on TikTok. She's a former city-dwelling Juilliard-trained ballerina, raised a devout Mormon, who now lives on a farm in the Utah mountains, called – you've guessed it – Ballerina Farm. Like other trad wife-styled accounts, Hannah's posts often have a dream-like aesthetic, showing her in gingham smock dresses whipping up meals using ingredients sourced from her back garden (which spans 328 acres) to feed her expansive family.
Ballerina Farm itself also sells everything from mountain-reared meat to raw milk, aprons and clogs, to branded sourdough starter kits. Think anything you'd find it a rural prairie cottage... only the Neelemans' home is far from quaint, and the business and farm combined has over forty employees. Which is partly where some of the recent article-derived criticism stems from (more on that aspect shortly).
The trad wife label isn't one Hannah says she necessarily identifies with either. When asked about that in her recent interview with The Times, she said, "We are traditional in the sense that it's a man and a woman, we have children, but I do feel like we're paving a lot of paths that haven't been paved before. So, for me to have the label of a traditional woman, I'm kinda like, I don't know if I identify with that."
Elsewhere in the piece, she and her husband Daniel describe themselves as co-CEOs of their business.
Who is Ballerina Farm's husband?
Daniel Neeleman, who also posts plenty of farm life content over on his own account (@hogfathering, which has half a million IG followers), was once a full-time director of a security company (owned by his father) and is now the owner of Ballerina Farm. He often shares posts of himself grafting away, caring for the animals and fully embracing his rustic cowboy lifestyle.
Also raised in a Mormon home, Daniel is one of nine children himself and his father is the billionaire, David Neeleman, a founder of the airline, JetBlue. This is how Hannah and Daniel, who met at a college basketball game (she initially refused his advances), had their first 'date' in the air, too.
It came about after Daniel learned she'd be getting a JetBlue flight from their shared hometown of Salt Lake City to New York and pulled some strings in order to be assigned the seat next to her. Romantic or a step too far? That’s something else others are now debating.
Despite Hannah saying she wanted to date for a year before marriage so she could finish up at one of America's most prestigious dance schools, Juilliard, Daniel (according to the article) told her that wouldn't work and "we've got to get married now". So, two months after that JetBlue flight, the pair were wed. Three months after that, Hannah was pregnant with their first child, Henry – making her the "first Juilliard undergraduate to get pregnant in modern history".
Why did Ballerina Farm become famous?
After appearing on stage in a beauty competition in January, just twelve days after giving birth, Hannah's already large profile was raised significantly and she gained thousands more followers online, many of whom were fascinated by the videos of her life on the farm and raising eight children.
As well as family life, Hannah uses her accounts to share the stories of her children's births, some of which didn't feature any medication at all in order to be as 'natural' as possible – another divisive talking point online – and recipes. In general, people seem either fascinated by Hannah’s content and envy her ‘simple’ lifestyle of being married to a billionaire’s son, or have found themselves unable to stop hate-watching the videos they think are disingenuous, or worse, show a woman trapped in a world that was her husband’s ‘dream’ but not necessarily her own.
How many children does Ballerina Farm have?
Eight, the oldest of whom is 12-year-old Henry, followed by Charles (10), George (nine), Frances (7), Lois (5), Martha (3), Mabel (2) and Flora, who is six months.
The couple have said publicly that they leave getting pregnant up to prayer and the will of God, and do not use birth control.
Why are people talking about Ballerina Farm?
Since an article came out that profiled Hannah and Daniel, many have left concerned comments underneath Hannah’s posts, questioning her welfare and whether or not she is truly happy with her life on the farm (which she gave up her dance career to pursue, as per the article, at Daniel's behest).
The profile piece also claims Hannah had dreams to turn a small barn on their land into her own dance studio, but instead it became a classroom for their children, and that she handles all the childcare – minus help, which they could easily afford – at Daniel’s request. He does, however, according to the piece, tackle the laundry and appear to be a hands-on dad too.
Another section of the article discusses how "sometimes [Hannah] gets so ill from exhaustion that she can’t get out of bed for a week", which others are pointing out further demonstrates the need for her to have more support in the home.
Following publication of the story, one comment, liked more than 2,600 times, on Hannah's Instagram account reads, "I just read the article, and I am so very sad for Hannah. None of this is at all what she wanted, but she does it, because Daniel wants her to. Everything about their lives is what he's always wanted. The only things she's been allowed to keep is the name. That they use, as a brand. So very sad."
Others felt differently, with one Ballerina Farm fan writing, "I read the article and it’s clearly biased. The author is trying to paint your husband as controlling and you as a victim who gave up your dreams. Please 🙄 The interviewer has an obvious prejudice against your beliefs and it shone through that piece. She tried to claim even date night was for the benefit of your husband. What wife doesn’t love date night?"
What has Ballerina Farm said in response?
Around a week after the article was published, Hannah took to her social accounts to share a video featuring clips of her getting ready for the day in her farmhouse, exercising and cooking breakfast, along with the caption 'What I’ve been thinking lately…'.
Over the top of the video, Hannah responded directly to the article saying that she and Daniel initially believed it had gone well, "A couple of weeks ago we had a reporter come into our home to learn more about our family and business. We thought the interview went really well, very similar to the dozens of interviews we had done in recent memory."
Hannah continued, "We were taken back, however, when we saw the printed article, which shocked us and which shocked the world by being an attack on our family and my marriage, portraying me as oppressed with my husband being the culprit. This couldn't be further from the truth. Nothing we said in the interview [implied this] which leads me to believe the angle taken was predetermined."
The content creator then explained that she and Daniel are equal partners in all that they do, and that the most important things to them as a couple are "God and family, everything else comes second". Hannah then referred to the "greatest day" of her life as her wedding day to Daniel, 13 years ago.
"Together we have built a business from scratch, brought eight children into this world and have prioritised our marriage all along the way. We are co-parents, co-CEOs, co-diaper changers, kitchen cleaners and decision makers. We are one."
The mother of eight then said the family still have many dreams to come and aren't done having babies. "For now I'm doing what I love the most: being a mother, a wife, a businesswoman, a farmer".
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