After garnering more than 18 million followers across social media in part due to the interest in "trad wives," Hannah Neeleman– better known as Ballerina Farm – has gone viral again.
Neeleman, who made headlines earlier this year for competing in the Mrs. World pageant two weeks after giving birth to her eighth child, sparked a frenzy with her recent interview with The Times of London, the headline of which reads "Meet the queen of the 'trad wives' (and her eight children)."
Some TikTok users pointed out how the article revealed the extent of the physical and emotional labor Neeleman performs day-to-day. Many reacting to the piece on social media reference husband Daniel Neeleman revealing that apparently Hannah is sometimes so ill from exhaustion that she is bedridden for a week. Others took to the comments in @BallerinaFarm's posts to defend a woman's choice to stay at home and raise a family.
More than a week after The Times published their article, Neeleman spoke out in a video about feeling shocked by the published piece, calling it "an attack on our family."
In the Times interview, Hannah Neeleman said despite being the most prominent among online influencers labeled as "trad wives," she does not "necessarily identify with it."
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"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," Neeleman told The Times. "So for me to have the label of a traditional woman ... I'm kinda like, I don’t know if I identify with that."
So who is the woman behind the Ballerina Farm account? Why is The Times article making waves? And what is a "trad wife?" Here's everything you need to know:
Hannah Neeleman responds to The Times of London article
Eleven days after The Times published its feature on the Neelemans, Hannah Neeleman expressed her disappointment with the story in a 1½-minute video.
"A couple of weeks ago, we had a reporter come into our home to learn more about our family and business," she said in a get-ready-with-me video. "We were taken back, however, when we saw the printed article which shocked us and 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 conclusion, which leads me to believe the angle taken was predetermined," she continued.
"The greatest day of my life was when Daniel and I were married 13 years ago. Together we have built a business from scratch, we've brought eight children into this world and have prioritized our marriage all along the way. We are co-parents, co-CEOs, co-diaper changers, kitchen cleaners and decision makers. We are one, and I love him more today than I did 13 years ago."
What are 'trad wives?'
Not all trad wives, or "traditional wives," are alike,trad wife content creator Estee Williams previously told USA TODAY. In her eyes, trad wives are homemakers whose priority is cooking, cleaning and being subservient to men. But such submission isn't "degrading," she says. It's her choice.
Williams said she believes trad wives are part of "traditional" marriages between a man and a woman. "I'm not coming online shaming anybody for who they love or how they choose to live their life," she said. "I just simply showcase mine. I don't want to threaten anybody's lifestyle, but I also am not going to diminish my own light because that might threaten somebody else's lifestyle."
Many view Neeleman's account as trad wife content. In videos, she'sseen milking cows,preparing mealsfor her family, often made from homegrown products, and sharing updates on theirfarm animals.
Why are 'trad wives' controversial?
Journalist and authorJo Piazzapreviously told USA TODAY there are aspects of the trad wife aesthetic that can be harmful to young girls.
"I do like the idea that we are elevating the kinds of work that women do in the home to something that we do want to see, to something that is aspirational," Piazza said. "The dangers in that are when you say: 'This is the only thing a woman should be doing. This is the only role that a woman should be playing.'"
Alex DiBranco, founder of theInstitute for Research on Male Supremacism, posited inan interviewwith Yale's Institution for Social and Policy Studies that trad wives are uplifting a male supremacist society."Some are more complicit in the operations of male supremacism than others, such as certain conservative religions, certain wings of the atheist movement, so-called trad wives who are influenced by patriarchy to support patriarchy," she said.
Williams said, in defense of trad wives: "There's this idea that trad wives have a sinister intent of white supremacy, but there's trad wives of every ethnicity and race online."
All about Hannah Neeleman and Ballerina Farm
Neeleman, born Hannah Wright and the eighth of nine children, was accepted to The Juilliard School's dance program at 17 and began competing in pageants, as she explains on her website, to earn financial assistance for her schooling.
She met Daniel Neeleman the summer before her senior year, and the two were married months later; they are both Mormon. Per Neeleman, her new husband ended his collegiate lacrosse career at Brigham Young University — a school sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church — to move to New York so they could be together.
They welcomed their firstborn, Henry, in May 2012, and she accepted her diploma while cradling her newborn in her arms, she says.
They lived in São Paulo, Brazil, for several years before heading to Utah and buying a farm to start a small business together.
Who is Daniel Neeleman?
Daniel Neeleman also grew up one of nine children in an entrepreneurially minded family. He's the son of businessman David Neeleman, who founded airlines such as WestJet, JetBlue Airways and Breeze Airways.
Daniel Neeleman goes by @hogfathering on social media.
Speaking with The Times, Neeleman argued that he's not the head of the household, but rather he and his wife are "co-CEOs."
How many kids do Hannah and Daniel Neeleman have?
Together, the Neelemans have eight children who range from less than a year old to 12 years old.
Their children are: Henry, Charles, George, Frances, Lois, Martha, Mabel and Flora.
Contributing: David Oliver
