Hannah Neeleman, the influencer known as “Ballerina Farm” with 9 million Instagram followers, is the most public “trad wife” — but that doesn’t mean she likes the title.
“I don’t necessarily identify with it,” Neeleman, 34, told The Sunday Times in an interview published on Saturday, July 20. “Because 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.”
Hannah shares eight children — Henry, 12, Charles, 10, George, 9, Frances, 7, Lois, 5, Martha, 3, Mabel, 2, and baby Flora, 6 months — with her husband, Daniel Neeleman. The couple’s youngest child, Flora, was born in January. Hannah eschewed painkillers for Flora’s birth, and 12 days later she competed in a beauty pageant. (She was named Mrs American in 2023, and competed for Mrs World in Las Vegas earlier this year.)
The former ballerina, who studied at Julliard, explained that although she is a stay-at-home mother a.k.a a “traditional wife,” she has a high-earning job as a contributor to their family farm.
“For me to have the label of a traditional woman,” she cautiously continued. “I’m kinda, like, I don’t know if I identify with that.”
When asked if Daniel, 36, was the head of their household, he responded, “No. We’re co-CEOs.” Hannah agreed, “Yeah. We are.”
Hannah gained fame on social media as the “trad wife” phenomenon — which centers on women who have rejected modern gender roles and reverted to a more old-fashioned definition of womanhood — took hold. She constantly engages her Instagram followers by documenting her life as a mom of eight, working on their farm in Utah and making meals from scratch. (Hannah also has 7.4 million followers on TikTok and 1.5 on YouTube.)
“I feel like we’re doing what God wants,” Hannah shared. “We’re on His errand a little bit,” Daniel added. “We’re on His errand a little bit,” she echoed.
On the flipside, the Neelemans have monetized their lifestyle by selling meat boxes from their cattle online. They also sell branded sourdough starters, rock salt, beeswax candles and more from their farm, warehouse and office.
Hannah says she’s embraced her life choices, which includes getting an epidural for only one of her kids’ births, six of which took place in her bedroom. But it wasn’t something she planned.
“My goal was New York City. I left home at 17 and I was so excited to get there, I just loved that energy,” recalled Hannah, who was born and raised in Springville, Utah. “And I was going to be a ballerina. I was a good ballerina. But I knew that when I started to have kids my life would start to look different.”
Hannah married Daniel when she was in her early 20s after meeting at a basketball game. Daniel, who is the son of billionaire commercial airlines founder David Neeleman, wanted to get married right away.
Hannah, however, didn’t agree to a date until six months after they connected. The pair tied the knot three months after that first date and they soon began expanding their family. They have since continued to practice Mormonism and home school their little ones.
“I gave up dance, which was hard. You give up a piece of yourself,” Hannah said of the early days of their relationship, claiming, “And Daniel gave up his career ambitions.” The outlet noted that it was Daniel’s decision to move his family to Utah and not have any childcare outside of Hannah. He also moved Hannah’s pageant gowns to the garage and repurposed her barn dance studio idea into the kids’ schoolroom.
When Hannah got a moment alone, she told the reporter that she’s not sure she’s a feminist.
“There’s so many different ways you could take that word. I don’t even know what feminism means anymore,” she confessed, saying that she “absolutely” feels like she has become judged by other people. “We try so hard to be neutral and be ourselves and people will put a label on everything. This is just our normal life.”
The labels and comments are something that Daniel, who has more than 500,000 followers on Instagram as “Hog Fathering,” has seemed to successfully push out of his mind.
“Daniel is so good about that. He says you can’t lean into what people are saying or the titles people are putting on you,” Hannah said as she looked at her spouse. “You just have to live your life and shut that out, because if not it will overtake you.”
Hannah, meanwhile, admitted that “it does” impact her seeing judgements online. “I’ll hear things. It’s no fun,” she added.
