Ballerina Farm article about 'trad wife' Hannah Neeleman goes viral (2024)

A Mormon mom-of-eight who rose to fame through her captivating 'trad wife' content has now become the subject of intense scrutiny following a recent article that gave a glimpse into the reality of her ultra-traditional lifestyle.

Hannah Neeleman, or Ballerina Farm as she's known as online, made headlines earlier in the year after she competed in Mrs. World only 12 days after giving birth with no pain relief.

This week, fans of the Utah-based content creator have expressed their concern following a Times of London article, which described her as 'Queen of the Trad Wives,' portraying a less-than-idyllic life than her social media presence suggests.

Readers were in shock over the in-depth piece, which showed Hannah, who is married to 35-year-old JetBlue heir Daniel Neeleman, often being spoken over by her husband and noted that she was left so exhausted from her hectic lifestyle that she was bed ridden for days.

Fans took to social media to share their thoughts, with many declaring they must 'save her.'

'This article reveals why the trad wife phenomenon is so dangerous. It encourages young women to become wives and mothers before they get a chance to learn and explore their own ambitions and desires,' a fan posted on X.

'And now I have to deep dive into the Ballerina Farm of it all. I'm so behind! She gave up Juilliard for this man? And he gave her an apron instead of taking her to Greece? His dad literally owns Jet Blue,' one user wrote on X, referring to a recent video where Hannah was gifted an apron to collect chicken eggs after expressing her desire to travel to Greeceseveral times.

'We have to SAVE HERRRRRRR,' another added.

'She's put last every day. She puts herself last. Her family puts her last,' TikTok creator Rhody Raysaid in a video. 'Who she was as a person before she was a wife and mother – that part of her is gone.'

'The real deception that's taking place with (the Ballerina Farm) account is the appearance of everything being easy, breezy, beautiful when in fact it seems Hannah Neeleman is slowly working herself to death to do multiple jobs, take care of these children, perform as an influencer online, without any additional help,' another creatorCaro Claire Burke raged in a now-viral video.

The article, written by Megan Agnew, also noted Daniel, whom Hannah married at 21, often commandeered the conversation, even insisting on showing her around the farm - despite Hannah calling them to come back to the house and Megan wanting to speak with her alone.

'I check my watch, feeling edgy,' Megan recalled in the article as Daniel took her around the farm. 'I want to talk to Neeleman.'

Further the piece said the only time Hannah had received medication during childbirth was when Daniel wasn't present, telling Megan when her husband was on a phone call and admitting it 'was kinda great.'

The 34-year-old has amassed millions of followers on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube from her 'trad wife' content, a term short for 'traditional wife,' which describes a woman trading modern femininity for domestic duties, involving cooking, cleaning, and having children.

Hannah, who was an aspiring ballerina, moved to New York City at 17 to study atJuilliard, but met her now-husband not long after, with her life changing drastically.

'My goal was New York City. I left home at 17 and I was so excited to get there, I just loved that energy. And I was going to be a ballerina. I was a good ballerina,' Hannah told the Times.

'But I knew that when I started to have kids my life would start to look different,' she added.

Her social media accounts tell the story of a city girl who is thriving while living the simple farm life, and a self-made businesswoman-turned-social media sensation who started her successful company from nothing.

However at times Megan expressed her skepticism over her happiness.

'I look out at the vastness and don't totally agree. Daniel wanted to live in the great western wilds, so they did; he wanted to farm, so they do; he likes date nights once a week, so they go (they have a babysitter on those evenings); he didn't want nannies in the house, so there aren't any,' she wrote.

'The only space earmarked to be Neeleman's own — a small barn she wanted to convert into a ballet studio — ended up becoming the kids' schoolroom.'

Despite Daniel telling The Times they are 'co-CEOs,' he admitted that his wife - who has no help with her eight children from nannies - sometimes 'gets so ill from exhaustion that she can't get out of bed for a week.'

The couple now live with their eight children, Henry, 12; Charles, 10; George, nine; Frances, seven; Lois, five; Martha, three; Mabel, three; and Flora, six months, on a 328-acre farm in Utah - with the article making several remarks about it not being the life Hannah initially wanted.

In the article, Daniel tells the reporter that Hannah initially refused to go out on a date with him for six months after they met through mutual friends at a university basketball game.

To orchestrate some uninterrupted time with Hannah, he pulled some strings with his father's airline to not only get on her flight from Salt Lake City to New York, but sit next to her.

Daniel proposed to her only a month after they started dating, and marrying only two months that - despite Hannah still studying at the prestigious school and wanting to finish her training.

The ballet dancer fell pregnant three months after they married while still studying, becoming the 'first Juilliard undergraduate to get pregnant in modern history.'

Hannah has gained international fame on social media as the face behind the Ballerina Farm accounts, which boast a following of almost 20 million across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

While she is one of the more famous so-called trad wifes, Hannah told The Times of London that she doesn't 'identify' with the trad wife label, as she's worked as a content creator while raising her family.

'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,' she explained.

After graduating from Julliard, thebudding dancer put her career on the backburner to focus on starting a family.

She moved to Brazil after Daniel was offered a position in one of his dad's new companies that was based out of South America, and it was there that the self-proclaimed 'city slicker' discovered her passion for farming.

In 2017, she, her husband, and their kids moved back to the U.S. and onto a farm in Utah, where Hannah began documenting the highs - and lows - that came with running the ranch while also taking care of their many children on her Instagram.

Hannah and Daniel launched their company, Ballerina Farm, in 2019 which now sells an array of products made from their livestock like ground beef and pork, as well as fresh desserts and produce.

Hannah, who is a member of the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, recently returned to pageantry - and competed in the coveted Mrs. World competition a mere two weeks after giving birth to her eighth child in January.