#hannah neeleman

[frances-baby-houseman]

“Our first few years of marriage were really hard, we sacrificed a lot,” she says. “But we did have this vision, this dream and —” Daniel interrupts: “We still do.” What kind of sacrifices, I ask her. “Well, I gave up dance, which was hard. You give up a piece of yourself. And Daniel gave up his career ambitions.”

I look out at the vastness and don’t totally agree. Daniel wanted to live in the great western wilds, so they did; he wanted to farm, so they do; he likes date nights once a week, so they go (they have a babysitter on those evenings); he didn’t want nannies in the house, so there aren’t any. The only space earmarked to be Neeleman’s own — a small barn she wanted to convert into a ballet studio — ended up becoming the kids’ schoolroom.

This is very, very good. Paywall free link. The epidural part was heartbreaking.

[joanofexys]

ballerina farm devastates me because y'all don't know how many girls i know who are her. how i almost was her. how so many girls i know were almost her. how many i know that will still become her. mormon girls, who, despite all their ambitions, will give up every one of their dreams for a man and a "traditional" lifestyle they were taught they needed, and call it equal. who will insist that he made sacrifices too. that though it's not what she wanted she's happy. being raised as a mormon girl in utah, or being a young woman converting to mormonism, you're taught that no matter where you go or what you achieve that you'll never be nothing more than your future husband. that your only purpose is to be a mother and a wife. and that full ride to julliard never mattered. and it never will. because you're a wife now. and you have eight kids to take care of. and a ballet studio that never came to be because it's a schoolroom. and your husband won't pull his weight even when you're fainting and bedridden from exhaustion. and your husband refuses to leave the room for your interview. and you admit to your epidural like it's a secret and it's something to be ashamed of. and you admit that this was never the life you wanted, this was never what you planned, and you still insist your happy. i know dozens of little girls who dreamed of being ballerinas. doctors. scientists. singers. movie stars. lawyers. authors. astronauts. olympians. i know that those little girls are now young women who go to church every sunday. wives. mothers. homemakers. caretakers. nuturers. fulfilling their heavenly duty. their obligation to their husband. i know a dozen hannah neeleman's. i know her because i almost was her. i know her because i see her in my mother and my grandmother and her mother too. and right now she's an internet trend who will disappear for most people in a couple months. you probably never learned her name. but i see hannah neeleman in every girl i grew up going to church with. in all the 18 year old wives and 20 year old first time moms. and it will be hard to forget the way her face still lights up whenever she gets to dance. feet moving along the hard wood of the schoolroom floor. and she will be someone more than her husband, more than a mother or a wife.

[spurgie-cousin]

Here is the profile from The Times on Ballerina Farm if you'd like to read it, I've only had time to skim it but holy shit. Her husband does a lot of talking for her in this article and it does paint a picture that was even bleaker than I think most people realized.

It sounds like she is just run ragged, contrary to popular belief she does not have any help in the day to day at all, and it apparently gets to the point where he husband says she can be in bed for days from pure exhaustion. it also sounds like her husband pushed her to give up her previous ambitions to start a family quicker than she originally wanted, so she tries so hard to fit pursuing her own goals into an insane schedule but it's just too much for one person to do most of the time.

Anyway this article really paints her husband as a controlling asshole, and for the first time ever I'm feeling sympathy for Hannah.

[hood-ex]

"I was going to be a ballerina. I was a good ballerina," has the exact same vibe as Neil Perry saying, "I was good. I was really good."

[evitachristine]

Do you recognise the woman in these pictures?

How about this one?

Her name is Hannah Wright.

Still doesn’t ring a bell? She got married. This is her now:

And this:

And this:

Why am I writing this? Look at her expression in the first two pictures.

Compare that to her expression in the videos.

You can’t tell me she doesn’t look dead in her eyes even if she’s smiling in her current state. Compare that to the young girl full of dreams on the left. She is now a shell of a woman of what could have been.

And before you say “Oh she’s a grown woman, she made her own choices!” I’m going to leave this here.

I don’t agree with the part where she says she doesn’t think this is a discussion about feminism, because without feminism, there would be NO discussion about women in Hannah’s situation whatsoever. But it is important to take the religious cult indoctrination into context as well. The poor woman is brainwashed.

And because the cut outs are low quality, here are one more picture of Hannah (bcs dang tumblr doesn’t allow more) as what she was supposed to be, full. It’s taken from an article from 2007, that’s why, and from Julliard website.

[zombster]

people dismissing hannah neeleman have never been in a relationship with a power imbalance or had something theyre really passionate about. like she had a full ride to julliard! i know there’s a lot of artist on here so surely yall know how amazing that is!! david married her before she wanted to be married (only like 3 months into their relationship) and im sure thats because he’s mormon and wanted to have sex. then she got pregnant and had to leave. the person yall need to be mad at is david.

i beg of yall to read the times article. it’s very much biased 😭 but there’s some good points.

let’s never dismiss a woman’s pain especially one where she’ll likely never get to leave.

[pigeonxp]

im not really invested in this ballerina farm stuff tbh but i read the article today and i cant stop thinking abt the part where the author says that hannah has nothing that she actually wanted in life. everything is her husband's dream. he didnt sacrifice anything because this is what he wanted. she gave up on being a ballerina. she left JULLIARD. the ONE THING she wanted was for a barn to be a ballet studio and it ended up being a schoolhouse for their EIGHT CHILDREN. thats whats really devastating.

[k47w]

You can still move your legs, prima. Take that pointe and put on your tutu. Throw the key. Move in your rythm. You are no less than you were 13 years ago.

[kratomqueen]

[leveluponabuck]

A not so egg-cellent gift

SO more than likely whether, you're fan or a hater if you've been on TikTok lately, you more than likely have been inundated with the egg apron Ballerina Farm debacle on the platform. I believe it was over a week ago when the internet was on sent into a collective rage when Julliard graduate, pageant winner Hannah Neeleman received only an egg gathering apron from her billionaire heir husband as a birthday gift. The gift in and of itself was not the issue, but instead that Hannah had requested that her (Jet Blue heir) husband take her to Greece for her birthday so that she could have time away from their 8 children. Her husband made the executive decision to give her what he decided she should have a tool to perform for labor for him and his children. Hannah a talented ballerina and former homeschool kid, gently smiled with sad eyes as she politely accepted her "gift". Everyone is in an uproar for Hannah which I get, but instead I think this is a learning opportunity. Here are 5 short takeaways I got from what I am calling the egg apron debacle.\

1. A man having money does NOT mean he is generous. Hannah's husband is a billionaire heir, meaning he's not even having to work hard for the money he receives. Even with his money he still didn't use his resources to give her rest, relaxation, and happiness. Now, this isn't a dog whistle to date broke men, NOT AT ALL. Instead every woman should aim to date a stable, generous man (if she wants to deal with men at all). Misogyny comes in all forms, classes, and races. Be sure that your man sees you as more than just an extension of him.

2. Never give up your education, career, or job for a man simply because of his net worth or promises. At one point I saw a woman say how Hannah at one point built a dance studio on their massive farm, and how it was taken for her in order for it to be a place to homeschool their 8 children. This not only disturbed me, but it also told me what kind of man Hannah married. A man who loves you wants you to have passions for things outside of him and the family you create. A man that loves you will support you pursuing your dreams and not only watch your do it, but help emotionally, financially, and physically to help you achieve your dream. Still have something for you. I believe she actually has the TikTok and blog for herself to earn her own money, hopefully she has a separate account in case she ever needs to leave.

3. Don't compare your entire life to anyone's 30 second reel. So many women of all ages still look up to Hannah Neeleman. She is so accomplished and yet, when she speaks of her life now and her farm. She looks sad, overwhelmed, and overworked. Even with all that said, we don't know her despite how tragic some aspects of her life may look to outsiders, she may look her life. She may be used to her husband ignoring her wishes, she may see meaning in sacrifices she makes. She may have even known that the internet would lose it over her birthday present and may be rage baiting. All we know is what we are allowed to see and even though many women may be able to empathize and even commiserate with her about men, the reality is we don't really know her, her husband, or her real situation.

In the comments tell what you thought about the situation. Did you hear anything about this story? I am excited to discuss this topic.

-Level Up on a Buck

[dontforgetoctober3rd]

You know that tiktok sound compilation of female rage that starts with pearl saying NOTHINGS GONNA KEEP ME HERE and it also has that hereditary sound bite of BECAUSE NOBODY ADMITS ANYTHING THEYVE DONE and then ends with the hidden figures scene of LIVIN OFF OF COFFEE FROM A POT NONE OF YOU WANNA TOUCHHH????

Yeah that's what played in my mind while I was reading that Ballerina farm article

[hestiasroom]

Sharing this here for anyone else obsessed with following the saga of Ballerina Farm.

[spurgie-cousin]

Have you read the ballerina farms times article?

Yes! I just posted about it but at the time I had only skimmed it, now that I've read it all I have many many more thoughts that I'm having trouble organizing bc I'm in the line at UPS right now.

The main one really is just that, I really thought she was using the traditional thing as a brand identity more than anything, like I was under the impression that she was more of a master marketer and this was at least partially an act. And it seems like, if this article is to be believed, that it's less of a marketing thing and actually her real life, a life which has been constructed by her husband and his ideals at the expense of hers. So the whole thing goes from feeling nefarious to kinda sad tbh, especially reading about how she's never been able to make any final decisions about how their lives go, or what the timing of things are.

[airasora]

The TRAD WIVES of TikTok

[diabolicflame93]

Was it a Choice?

The pressure fundamentalist children and college age adults face in fundamentalism. And the how family and faith can influence your choices.

I’d like to go back and revisit a couple of ideas that I’ve touched on in the past. I had someone reach out to me and point me towards a recent newspaper article about Ballerina Farms.1 She also commented that a good subject line for a potential post would be “Fundamentalism and the Illusion of Choice.”2 If you haven’t read the The Times article it discusses “Ballerina Farms” and the life of the…

[its-all-down-hill]

When people talk about Hannah Neeleman (aka Ballerina Farm), I think they forget that a bird in a golden cage is no less trapped; even if someone opens the door for them. No matter how many birds call out for it to fly, freedom is a choice the bird must make for itself.