Why Do People Want to ‘Save’ Utah Mom of 8, Known For Her ‘Ballerina Farm,’ from Her Millionaire Husband?

By now, a large portion of the public is aware of a homemaker housewife named Hannah Neeleman from Utah. Well-known by her social media followers for her “Ballerina Farm,” the 34-year-old has gone viral not only because of the content she posts but because of the life she leads with her husband, Daniel Neeleman, and their eight children.

A profile on the mom of eight, which was published by The Times on July 20, garnered immense attention from the public. The article, written by Megan Agnew, was based on an interview she had with Hannah, in which Megan got a glimpse into the life Hannah leads.

Hannah is viewed by some as the quintessential housewife. Many have even gone so far as to dub her “the queen of ‘trad wives,’” praising her for embracing a “new model of womanhood.”

Living a quaint life on the farm she and her husband own, Hannah takes care of everything to do with household and motherly duties.

The interview begins with the story of when Hannah was pregnant with her eighth child and gearing up to compete in a beauty pageant. Having been crowned Mrs. American in August 2023, she had been invited back to Las Vegas to compete in Mrs. World.

Far be it from Hannah’s personality to take some time to recuperate after giving birth to her baby girl, Flora Neeleman, whom she had in one of her home’s rooms without pain relief; she went ahead with competing just 12 days postpartum.

With “brute strength,” the mother of eight, once a ballerina who trained at Juilliard in New York, was determined to do everything she could to compete. She took ice baths and iron supplements to help speed up healing and kept herself active.

Despite experiencing adverse symptoms like bleeding and swelling, Hannah pushed through. By the time the pageant date rolled around, she traveled to Las Vegas, newborn baby, husband, and their seven other children in tow.

She made it through to the competition’s second round, and once that happened, her social media platforms exploded. With over 9 million followers on Instagram (9.6 million to be exact), 9.3 million on TikTok, and 1.5 million on YouTube, people couldn’t wait to see what the super mom would achieve next.

While many found themselves enamored with their traditional wife queen, Megan looked at the situation through a different lens.

The way she described Hannah and Daniel’s home life set up with their eight children, Henry, Charles, George, Frances, Lois, Martha, Mabel, and Flora Neeleman, makes one question whether Hannah’s take on the modern housewife is empowering or “a hammer blow for feminism.”

Stepping into their home, after being welcomed by Daniel, whom she described as “an all-American steak of a husband, square-jawed and denim-clad,” Megan began her interview.

After Hannah exchanged pleasantries with Megan, the author made it a point to note how the mom conducted the four-hour discussion with a baby glued to her chest.

Speaking about the purpose of her social media presence, Hannah, who was raised in a Mormon family, milks cows and bakes sourdough bread, shared, “I feel like we’re doing what God wants.” Jumping in on his wife’s statement, Daniel then added, “We’re on His errand a little bit,” which his wife then repeated.

Other moments described by Megan indicated that Hannah would look to her husband a lot of the time to help answer questions or sometimes answer the questions for her altogether.

Such an instance saw Hannah turn directly to her husband, whom Megan said was standing behind her, to ask, “What do you think upsets us the most?”

This was in reaction to a question Megan had asked about how Hannah feels about getting wide-scale attention on social media. According to the “trad wife” movement/phenomenon, such behavior is usually the norm as this cohort of women is known for their rejection of modern gender roles.

Instead, they proudly adopt a more traditional approach to existence, one that dates back to a more archaic time of life, which is usually bound to the Christian faith.

In today’s times, with the boom of technology and social media, traditional (trad) wives who have social media accounts typically film themselves making things from scratch, and promote natural remedies over medicine, etc.

While Hannah is a trad wife through and through, she has, interestingly, never attached herself to the term or the movement. When asked how she feels about the movement, her husband replied for her, yet again.

“We were already together, doing what we were doing. And then ‘trad wife’ came along. We can’t help it. This is what we are. If we’re trad dad, trad wife, so be it,” Daniel asserted.

However, countering her husband’s answer, Hannah clarified, “I don’t necessarily identify with it 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.”

Interestingly, when the couple was asked if they consider the husband to be the head of the household, as is typically standard in such dynamics, Daniel answered, “No.” He went further to say that, instead, he and Hannah are “co-CEOs.”

As for whether or not Hannah considers herself a feminist, she expressed, “There’s so many different ways you could take that word. I don’t even know what feminism means anymore. 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 couple then took Megan for a tour around their farm, where they have three full-time employees who help them sell meat boxes from their pigs and cows, copper measuring cups, beeswax candles, rock salt, and sourdough starters.

In a moment alone that Megan managed to get with Hannah, she asked if the homemaker had always wanted this life for herself. In response, Hannah clarified that her initial dream was to be a ballerina in New York City after she left home at 17.

However, she mentioned, “But I knew that when I started to have kids my life would start to look different.” Hannah’s current life is somewhat modeled after the one she was born into—a big Mormon family of nine children who were homeschooled.

Like his wife, Daniel was also born into a Mormon family as one of nine kids. He is the son of David Neeleman, a billionaire founder of a number of airlines, one being JetBlue. He grew up in the suburbs and experienced a moneyed upbringing.

When asked whether his current life was what he had always desired and envisioned, Daniel responded, “Yes. I expected Hannah to be more at home with the kids, but she said, ‘I watched my parents working together and so whatever we do, we got to do it together.’”

While Hannah admitted that their first few years of marriage were hard, with her having to eventually sacrifice her dancing, she said that Daniel, too, had to give up his career ambitions.

However, Megan seemed to disagree, highlighting the fact that from her vantage point, it appeared as though Daniel got everything he had desired: living on a farm in the West and not having nannies help out with their children.

Megan goes further to point out that the one space that Hannah had to herself—a small barn she wanted to turn into a ballet studio—got converted into the children’s schoolroom.

Giving credit to Daniel, though, Megan does make it clear that he is a hands-on father, taking their kids out on the farm and doing the laundry. Additionally, she mentioned that the kids sometimes take care of each other, too.

However, Megan said that Daniel admitted that his wife is sometimes unable to get out of bed for a week due to being so ill from exhaustion.

The interview goes on to explain other facets of the couple’s life that are deeply rooted in their strong Mormon beliefs. Megan also made it a point to highlight that for most of their conversation, she could not hear from Hannah without Daniel interjecting, correcting, or answering for her.

Megan’s interview went viral online, sparking a global debate on social media about the content she had put out. As a result, The Times published another piece on the subject, addressing the public attention the first one had received, which they dubbed a revisiting of Megan’s time spent with Hannah, Daniel, and their kids.

This profile was significantly less opinionated, with Megan focusing solely on relaying the facts she had learned about Hannah’s life and what the public had said about it.

She instead focused on how the doting mother of eight deals with public scrutiny, opinions about her lifestyle choices, and how she manages to keep everything in her household together.

The same facts from the first article were still discussed; however, Megan did so through the lens of the backlash she had received from the public.

She drew attention to the fact that some women who do not adopt the life of a traditional wife may sometimes feel threatened by women like Hannah, who paint a peaceful and harmonious picture of what life is like as a homemaker wife and mother.

Megan said they feel this way because they might view women like Hannah as a threat to their ability to be able to choose a different life than that of a traditional housewife.

While she was still adamant about the difficulty she experienced in trying to have a one-on-one conversation with Hannah away from her husband, Megan did so in a way that gave grace and understanding to both the traditional wife and the modern-day, feminist woman.

However, Megan’s new article did little to quell the disapproval of people who do not agree with the life Hannah leads with Daniel. A video the homemaker shared on TikTok re-ignited public criticism.

Hannah posted footage of herself unwrapping a birthday gift from Daniel, who filmed her reaction. Amid opening up the box that was wrapped in plastic, Hannah says, “Hoping they’re tickets to Greece.”

Daniel then asks her to read out where the package came from but she is unable to because she said her sons took the signage off.

Her husband then says the package came from Ukraine. Hannah continues to unwrap the gift, excitement strewn across her face, until she opens the box to reveal an egg apron. As she fastens the fabric around her waist, Daniel states, “It’s great. Now you can gather eggs.”

Hannah says that the apron is cute right before her husband sternly expresses, “You’re welcome,” to which she responds with, “Thanks, honey.” Social media users who saw the video were not pleased. “It was so humiliating to give an egg apron, what’s wrong with this man?” questioned an Instagrammer.

Another wondered, “Why do I feel like this could turn into a new true crime mini-series with a dark twist?” “Take that woman to Greece. She is your wife,” wrote someone else. This person was also referencing the fact that Daniel, as aforementioned, comes from wealth.

His rich father, David, still holds 8% of JetBlue’s stock, which is currently worth $144 million. Shares acquired in 1998 for $5.27 per piece are now worth $43.50. The Mormon is also still personally involved in the ongoings of his company, which has a total of 3,563 employees.

Amid the reactions, came a wave of more concerned comments from people who had read Megan’s articles and seen Hannah’s home life.

“[The] ballerina farm situation actually brought me to tears SAVE HER!!!!!” exclaimed someone on X. Similarly, another echoed, “[Just] went down the ballerina farm worm hole bro someone save that lady and her kids from that man .”

However, one person came to Hannah and Daniel’s defense, dismissing what Megan had written. They penned, “That article was silly. Love the life you built! We enjoy watching you everyday!!!”