Ballerina Farm Controversy: Former LDS Trad Wife Weighs In

Hannah Neeleman, LDS trad wife and mom-fluencer for over 9 million collective followers is under high scrutiny from the world after an article in The Times, pulled back the veil from her seemingly perfect life. Journalist Megan Agnew wrote about her sneaking suspicion of secret oppression going on behind the scenes due to her impression of Hannah’s heavily lurking husband. Is Hannah, the pageant-winning, butter-churning, picture perfect mother of eight actually happy to have blown up her ballerina career at Juilliard for this exhausting lifestyle? Joined live today, former LDS trad wife and content creator. Jennie Gage, weighs in on her opinion of the matter.

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*Disclaimer: Thanks for joining us at Cults to Consciousness. This storytelling podcast is meant to be for entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for medical advice. We may discuss triggering topics and we ask that you make your personal mental health a priority. Lastly, the opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the host.**

[poodlegirl]

When I was a teenager I ran off with the guitar player in a rock band. We both had bad home lives with alcoholism. We got married when I was 19 and he was 22 in 1974, this year is our 50th anniversary. We didn't have kids our first 7 years and partied instead. We have always given each other space and room to grow, we were always kind of hippies. We raised some really awesome kids that are so good to us. He put me through college when I was 42 and decided I wanted a science degree and to work in the medical field. Recently he nursed me through a two year cancer battle and never left my side. I know stories like mine rarely work out but ours did and we are so very lucky for what we have.

[tiffanyr]

My mom always told me, "Its ok to want a man. But you should never NEED a man". And I think that is such an important lesson to bestow on our daughters. Get an education, build a career and life experience. Have the ability to support yourself should you need to.

Even if you have the most loving husband and idyllic marriage, you never know what might happen. Your spouse could unexpectedly get sick, pass away, or be injured/disabled and unable to work and support the family. Then what? If you have no life skills or the ability to get a job - you and/or your family will suffer. Women should always have the ability to be independent, take care of themselves and make their own decisions.

[Suprachiasmatic]

This is my official petition for “A Man is Not a Plan” shirts!

[SaffronHammer]

They are not homesteaders and come from BILLIONS. It is all Cosplaying.

[KateKanenator]

The biggest thing that stood out to men was when Daniel said, "we're co-CEOs." No! No, you're not!! She is an *unpaid* laborer who doesn't even own the company that she created!

[CarolynandherClothes]

I’m still amazed my mother born in 1925 always raised me as “a man is not a plan”. She was also an atheist. Way before her time. Appreciate her so much now despite the fact I never knew her as an adult.

[jennahart]

I HAVE to say - my heart broke for Jennie, when she admitted her 23 year old daughter said she just wished mom would've cuddled on the couch to watch Disney movies, and gotten them McDonalds. I'm a SAHM of twins and a young boy - I'm quite overwhelmed with motherhood most days. So snuggling on the couch watching Disney happens nearly every day, and McDonalds happens at least once weekly. I have a relentless, nagging voice in my mind that tries to guilt trip over these things, while logically I know it's absolutely fine. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for acknowledging that these things are ok. I'm not making gourmet meals from scratch and milking cows and having 8 babies without epidurals ... And that's not only 100% ok, it's actually GOOD.

[mariepierre]

My sister-in-law’s father lost his mother because the doctor told her to not have kids anymore but the church told her to keep making kids and she died from it. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I find that so sad.
My great-grand-mother married a 42 years old man when she was 14, had 18 kids, 16 alive pushed on her by the Catholic church back in the days. One year, she just had twins and she didn’t get pregnant right away so the priest went to her house to tell her she was preventing family.
My father raised me to absolutely NOT embrace the trad wife life. He told me that you have to make a life for yourself and make sure that you can provide for yourself even and especially if you are a woman. My father (who would be 81 years if he was still here) was a feminist who pushed my mother to leave trad wife life and me to not embrace it and I am very thankful for him.

[heartgirl]

"PERFORMANCE FEMININITY" this is literally the only expression we need

[MoDavison]

They didn't even want all that. They wanted McDonald's, and a present mom. They got handmade pasta, and an angry mom. This hits so hard right now.

[luzrim]

Every now and then the rich love to play poor, because poor people are such cute little things!

[Hygge-minimalistisch]

Back in the 80s, I attended a wedding for a young woman from a very traditional and religious group. After the ceremony, we were all chatting in the bathroom when the young woman arrived and after most of the women had left and it was just the two of us and her, she came up to us very scared and asked if we had any birth control pills because she really didn't want to get pregnant right after the honeymoon. We didn't have any because we didn't carry them in our purses. The short story is that the girl got pregnant soon after, followed by many more. Years later, after having several children, she left them all with her husband forever. She waited a gap between pregnancies to leave everything behind. This is a sad story, but true! She really did leave everything behind.

[kimberlycoldren]

I heard that Ballerina Farms is registered only in her husband's name. She is the face of the farm but she's not on any of the financials, that seems exploitative.

[BijouxBee]

Hannah’s husband creeps me out. Their religion creeps me out.

[Amandaaa]

When I was doing personal progress as a teenager, I decided to write music for my divine nature project. My young women’s leader told me that this was not appropriate because I had to do one of the already established projects, and I literally told her “there is nothing in my divine nature that makes me a housewife.” She ended up letting me write my music, and I ended up a doctor married to a doctor. Just turned 30, no kids. We met at church, are still active in the church but incredibly progressive and our ward is the most educated ward on the planet, I’m pretty sure. All the women and all the men have doctorates and work at Harvard and MIT. We know our divine nature 😘

[DayDayTN]

I’ve seen Ballerina Farms content. She is pretty open that she doesn’t do her scratch made meals for every single meal. I get the vibe she mostly does those types of meals for content only. I have seen other content creators who project an image they do all this homesteading, from scratch cooking and homeschooling of lots of kids and I personally don’t buy it. There’s not enough hours in the day to milk cows, mill flour, cook, bake, garden, clean the house, do laundry, film and edit content, AND homeschool on a daily basis. In addition I’ve watched several very devout women on YouTube who ditched their educations to support their husbands and have large families. 10-15 years later they are divorced and struggling so much.

[YoungMeschaLakes]

"Planned on turning you into a housewife." The lack of respect from this phrase!? As though you were his onject. I'm sorry this person treated you in that way.

[melissashiels]

He wanted a beautiful bird, so he could clip her wings, and keep her in a cage.

[kimberlypainter]

Leaving the church at 37, and then really realizing how untrue it is has been so, so hard. I feel like I have to relearn who i am and what i believe. I feel bamboozled. I can absolutely say my anxiety came from trying so hard to be Mormon.

[anthonyaguilar]

“Sorry for what I said when I was in the trad wife cult”