Ballerina Farm is a family TikTok account with over 9 million followers. This account belongs to Hannah Neeleman, a 34-year-old with eight children. She gave up her entire life to raise all eight children on a farm with Daniel, her husband.

Recently, an article was published about how she did not want this life. She wanted to be a ballerina. Neeleman grew up in a Mormon house of 11, consisting of her two parents and eight siblings. She always knew she wanted to be a ballerina. At 14 years old, Neeleman attended a summer ballet program at Julliard School, and two years later received a scholarship to Brigham Young University’s (BYU) theater ballet program. She then finished off her studies at Julliard.

While attending BYU Neeleman met her now husband, Daniel Neeleman, who also grew up in a Mormon household. Daniel’s father, David, founded five airlines including JetBlue and TAP Air Portugal, so you can see the vision now. Her husband, Daniel, is a million dollar trust fund baby who took away his wife’s chances of being a very accomplished ballerina.

Hannah was on an upward trajectory into reaching fame and fortune with all of all her dreams coming true, but instead was trapped on a farm, away from her dream.

The Neelemans and their kids, Henry (12), Charles (10), George (9), Frances (7), Lois (5), Martha (3), Mabel (2) and baby Flora live on a 328-acre farm outside of Kamas, Utah, creating their own perfect life under the bright blue Utah sky.

Hannah was a dedicated beauty-pageant competitor, and two weeks after having her eighth child, competed in Mrs. America (2023). She seems so lowkey and contemptuous with her life, even when she is in full pageant glam. It might not seem like much to the average eye, but it makes me hope that she knows she could have had so much more in her life.

Journalist Megan Agnew published a profile in July of 2024 on Hannah and her family. At least it started that way, before her husband chimed in and took up a huge portion of Agnew’s time. 

In this profile, Hannah shares, “I knew it was coming, so I had prepared.” She continues to share that during the pregnancy it took a lot of strength and determination to make sure she could end up looking so perfectly pristine, despite being 12 days postpartum. She kept so perfectly fit, weight lifting every single day before her children woke up, took ice baths, and even many supplements to speed up the healing process of having a full blown human come out of her body.

Without any pain relief, her daughter Flora was born. Hannah calls her the “one-push baby.” Hannah laid low for 2 days. That is 48 hours of relaxation she got before getting right back to her work on the farm, away from all her dreams of dancing on the stage. 

The seventh day postpartum however, she got up from bed and did barre exercises (a classical dance conditioning) in the bathroom, and by day nine, she was trying on her pageant outfits, forcing herself into leather pants and skin-tight ball gowns. 

After a long day she made it through to the second round and her fans went crazy. They could not tell if this was an act of ultimate empowerment or her demonstration of oppression. Whether she liked it or not, this was the moment Hannah Neeleman became the “Queen of Trad-Wives.”

Agnew ends up returning to the home, and we learn more about the family’s politics. We find out they don’t believe in a lot of things you may think the normal human would, but given their commitment to the Church of Latter-day Saints, it’s not surprising. What is far more intriguing is the fact that Daniel has so much pride in the fact that Hannah gave up her dream of pursuing her dance career to get married months before she said she was ready to, as they got engaged after 3 weeks of dating, which is insane. Hannah then proceeded to have children nonstop for the next 13 years.

Her article ended up getting a lot of attention, not only from fans of Ballerina Farm but also from the Neeleman family. Shortly after the publication of this article, Hannah posted an Instagram reel where she is getting ready for the day as she shares that she and her husband are “co-diaper changers” and “co-CEOs.” 

Ballerina Farm, much like any influencer story you have seen, is not cinema. This is real life, a messy mixture of contradictions that is so difficult to sit and decipher. Is Hannah under her husband’s thumb or are they truly co-CEOs? Both can be true, but are they?