Ballerina Farm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She is happy. She is the hardest working woman I know. She loves her husband with all that she is. Daniel is a good,kind happy man. Their children work hard and play hard and are very well rounded. Hannah is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. She loves Christ. I wish you all could know her as I do.
Micka.

Mormon,Micka?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Poor oppressed woman married to a billionaire and making organic sourdough bread. Not even an inventive angle to take. Boring and nothing to see.

A pretty girl finds a rich man to marry and take care of her. Not exactly a problem to solve.

I rolled my eyes at the beeswax candles. Nothing is unique

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She is happy. She is the hardest working woman I know. She loves her husband with all that she is. Daniel is a good,kind happy man. Their children work hard and play hard and are very well rounded. Hannah is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. She loves Christ. I wish you all could know her as I do.
Micka.

Micka, come on. She is not happy. I'm sure she has convinced herself she is happy, and of course she puts on a good face for her family and for the world. But to be happy you have to have rest. You have to do things you find fulfilling that don't involve taking care of others. You have to have your heart's desires fulfilled once in a while, maybe by having, say, a dance studio or a dream vacation to Greece. You need to be around people who see your humanity and honor your needs.

Hannah Neelman is not getting these things. She is not thoroughly happy. But she cannot admit that because she believes that doing so would make her choices, and therefore the church, look bad. It would upset that balance she has in her marriage, too, and nothing in her world is more important than having a good marriage. She is doing a good job keeping it together on the outside, but her situation is terrible.

[Anonymous]

I was raised Mormon, and all my close friends and family are Mormon, and I don't know *any* Mormon women in this day and age who live like woman does. I interacted a lot with woman like Hannah when I was a kid, but Mormon culture has progressed a bit. Nobody is having eight kids anymore, women have their own hobbies and/or jobs, people delay children to get more financially stable and enjoy their youth a bit, etc. If a family doesn't do frozen meals or takeout they are at least buying pre-made dough and doing freezer meals with friends. All the younger Mormon men I know do at least some cooking, cleaning, and childcare. I have heard of one man (my BIL's BIL) who refuses to do any of these things, and people gossip about crazy that is behind his back.

TLDR even for Mormons this is bizarre. It seems like some kind of pioneer cosplay. It's totally self-induced hardship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:This is sad. She doesn't even care for the whole trad wife movement. You can tell she is struggling with her religion and values being imposed on her heavily. Tye epidural. She went to Julliard but gave up her dance career for him.

Has anyone else seen her birthday tiktok where she was hoping to get tickets to Greece? He got her an apron and kitchen stuff instead. Not to be harsh but she needs to get her and her kids out of this situation. I content is dangerous for young impressionable people.

https://x.com/sisogynist/status/1816171875464024468 the video

Goodness that’s depressing. He sounds like a douche.

It's always a douche move to say "you're welcome" before someone's had a chance to say thank you. It's a passive-aggressive prompt which is inappropriate for someone who's supposed to be your equal. How sad she thought it was a hat to wear in Greece and it was just an ugly apron.

is that in the article? I missed it but did catch the exhaustion line and the fact that he makes the decision about impregnating her and she says nothing but "prays about it". But, then, in his religion he is a future God and she isn't even a Goddess (read up on this before you comment). If she dies or tries to leave (and is excommunicated) he just moves on to another Mormon to get sealed to her. Just as my cousin did - he now has three women sealed to him. All these women (or more) then go on to the Celestial heaven, then on their nee planet turning out spirit babies for him. Note Hannah cannot be sealed to another mormon man. It works only one way. This is why the Quorum of 12 have never totally done away with polygamy. It does exist in the Celestial Kingdom.

No. In one of their TIktoks, she opens her birthday present. It's in a cardboard box, probably what it was shipped in. She is hoping it's plane tickets to greece. No, it's an egg apron. She looks like she is trying so hard to be happy, and her husband says "you're welcome." Ugh, such a douche move.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The Times ran a piece on her https://www.thetimes.com/magazines/the-sunday-times-magazine/article/meet-the-queen-of-the-trad-wives-and-her-eight-children-plfr50cgk

This was really well done. The husband def comes off as a walking red flag. And she seems really unhappy. It’s sad

This is my favorite quote from the article. She IS in a cult. Mormonism is a cult.


“One of the most influential trad wives is Nara Smith, a 22-year-old Mormon model (four million Instagram followers) who talks in a voice so soft she sounds as though she has been brainwashed by a cult, and is constantly pregnant and draining something fermented through muslin.”

of course mormonism is a cult, i mean, are we really debating it at this point?

It's just more recent than other religions. I actually don't think it's anymore of a cult.

As a former Mormon, you are incredibly profoundly naive. Bless your heart

As a former Mormon, I actually agree that it isn't a cult, unless your definition of cult is very broad. People in all religious believe nutso things and make poor decisions because of their faith or influence from other organizations like fraternaties. I'd say the current republican party is more of a cult than Mormonism. I left Mormonism because I just stopped believing in the doctrines and I don't personally find the grass to be much greener, with the exception of not paying tithing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:The Times ran a piece on her https://www.thetimes.com/magazines/the-sunday-times-magazine/article/meet-the-queen-of-the-trad-wives-and-her-eight-children-plfr50cgk

This was really well done. The husband def comes off as a walking red flag. And she seems really unhappy. It’s sad

Definitely. "Still, Daniel says, Neeleman sometimes gets so ill from exhaustion that she can’t get out of bed for a week."

I mean, awesome you're a billionaire and can have 8 kids you apparently don't have to care for for a week when push comes to shove, but this is a total farce so miss me with the videos of acting like it's the easiest thing to wake up, get eggs, bake fresh bread, make your sauces, homeschool etc. This is totally a farce and even a wife of a billionaire is struggling with it.

Also, he's breeding her like a cow which is pretty gross regardless of how much money you have.

And basically forced her into marrying shortly after they met so he could have sex.

Nobody forced anything into her. You're inadvertently pushing the perpetually fragile white woman narrative.I don't think you want/meant too, but i just want you to realize how infantilizing and patronizing it is.

I remember my Mormon friend telling me about a Mormon guy who asked her out. He said that God had told him she was the one for him. That's a kind of religious coercion that would be hard to say no to.

Do you really know what coercion is? Probably not. Also, if people make up their fictional stories and choose to believe it, that's their problem. I mean, believing or doing something because someone told that God told them is the height of idiocy .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

TLDR even for Mormons this is bizarre. It seems like some kind of pioneer cosplay. It's totally self-induced hardship.

I agree with this, but still it doesn't mean she isn't happy. She has the ability to leave, and often spends time with her mom. I wouldn't love that lifestyle, but I'm sure she would be unhappy living my life as well.

[Anonymous]

If you watch any of the other 'homesteaders' on youtube who are not married to billionaires nor have won beauty pageants, it's funny but SO apparent she is not used to cooking at all (much less from scratch everyday for her large family), nor used to running the household in general. Everything she does around the farm seems awkward just like a staged act, part of the cosplay she and her husband are becoming famous for. But I actually disagree she is oppressed and her husband is a villain. They both seem like they are complicit in using social media to elevate themselves and are successfully basking in the limelight now. Good for them I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

TLDR even for Mormons this is bizarre. It seems like some kind of pioneer cosplay. It's totally self-induced hardship.

I agree with this, but still it doesn't mean she isn't happy. She has the ability to leave, and often spends time with her mom. I wouldn't love that lifestyle, but I'm sure she would be unhappy living my life as well.

I suppose I don't know what is in the inner workings of her brain, but I think she is more convinced she is happy than she is actually happy. If you are constantly working yourself to exhaustion to cater to the needs of others, you aren't really happy. But she isn't allowed to look sad because Mormonism basically needs her to be a walking advertisement for the church (although I really think that church PR would be happier if she had gotten tickets to Greece and was getting more rest).

Regardless, I hope she someday grows a spine and sets some boundaries with her husband. As a former Mormon it took me a long time to do this. It's hard to stop doing things for your husband and children when they have come to expect it, especially when you're saying no so you can do something like rest and be alone. It feels incredibly selfish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you watch any of the other 'homesteaders' on youtube who are not married to billionaires nor have won beauty pageants, it's funny but SO apparent she is not used to cooking at all (much less from scratch everyday for her large family), nor used to running the household in general. Everything she does around the farm seems awkward just like a staged act, part of the cosplay she and her husband are becoming famous for. But I actually disagree she is oppressed and her husband is a villain. They both seem like they are complicit in using social media to elevate themselves and are successfully basking in the limelight now. Good for them I guess.

What do you think of farmhouse on Boone? That’s the one I see.

She and her husband are running a business. That much is clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you watch any of the other 'homesteaders' on youtube who are not married to billionaires nor have won beauty pageants, it's funny but SO apparent she is not used to cooking at all (much less from scratch everyday for her large family), nor used to running the household in general. Everything she does around the farm seems awkward just like a staged act, part of the cosplay she and her husband are becoming famous for. But I actually disagree she is oppressed and her husband is a villain. They both seem like they are complicit in using social media to elevate themselves and are successfully basking in the limelight now. Good for them I guess.

Interesting observation. I'm one of the former Mormon PPs and I grew up around women who canned, baked bread, quilted, and gardened out of financial necessity, and. yes, they do things very differently. For one, nobody does these things themselves. These chores are a communal thing. Also, everything is done in bulk. Efficiency is a huge priority and so they rarely fuss much with making things look pretty, much less making the process look aesthetic. I do believe that she is doing most of what she and her husband claims she is doing but yeah, it's not very authentic.

But her husband is 100% a villian for not getting her tickets to Greece and for lying to her so he could go visit a ditch during a what was supposed to be her interview.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you watch any of the other 'homesteaders' on youtube who are not married to billionaires nor have won beauty pageants, it's funny but SO apparent she is not used to cooking at all (much less from scratch everyday for her large family), nor used to running the household in general. Everything she does around the farm seems awkward just like a staged act, part of the cosplay she and her husband are becoming famous for. But I actually disagree she is oppressed and her husband is a villain. They both seem like they are complicit in using social media to elevate themselves and are successfully basking in the limelight now. Good for them I guess.

What do you think of farmhouse on Boone? That’s the one I see.

She and her husband are running a business. That much is clear.

I've seen that one and have always wondered what her husband is doing (apart from tending to their cows and chicken). Are they running a business ie selling stuff?

It seems like Laura (or whatever her name was) is doing everything - creating frequent youtube videos, coming up with recipes, writing her blog, homemaking in general, not to mention home-birthing a kid every other year. I wasn't under the impression that the family is running a business other than their social media platform but maybe I haven't watched enough of their channel.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:So she’s up at 6, no nanny and does her job when the kids are in bed and goes to sleep around 1 am (I listened to the podcast). This is why she’s in bed sometimes for a week.

I get the trad wife appeal….although she’s a working mom. Being a typical working mom feels impossible most of the time. Hence the appeal of “traditional” roles. But I’d wager that my middle class life and 35 hour per week jobs affords me significantly more leisure time.

I read a lot of Reddit influencer gossip, and she does have nannies and lots of help. This is all for show.

I noticed the reporter said "he doesn't want nannies in the home, so there are none" rather than "doesn't want nannies" - sounds like they're not live-in? Plus the kids were being "homeschooled" elsewhere on the property by someone who doesn't actually live in the home. The image they're projecting is clearly just that: I mean they have 3 employees just to deal with their media images.

I agree with the people who say the reporter clearly had an angle, but I'm not sure that absolves this guy of being a piece of work or means she's happy or fulfilled.

Well, they did a hideous job of lining up othis family to interview with the very liberal LA Times. Anyone in PR could have predicted have this would come out. And what's worse - every publication is riffing off of the Times piece. Google Ballerina Farm: the story is everywhere: Axios, Forbes, Tiktok, X, Reddit, Glamour, Vanity Fair, NY Post, etc. This is a PR disaster

The article was not published by the LA Times. I don’t think you read it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This honestly seems like a logical transition from high level ballet training to me. For one thing, we don’t know if she was good enough at ballet to have a sustainable career, even if she wanted to. Also ballet is at least partly torture in service of a beautiful picture, which is exactly what she does now. She’s the prima ballerina of Mormon influencing. There’s nothing in this article that proves she lacks agency. It’s just a sloppy hit piece.

This is a great point.

Also: ice baths in irrigation ditches while pregnant? Whaaaaaat.

The irrigation ditches are one of the craziest things about her Instagram. They used to show the kids playing in them like they were a pool.