The backlash against 'tradwife' influencer Nara Smith explained

Metro

16-06-2025

It's hard to scroll social media and not come across one of Nara Smith's ASMR-like, wildly complicated cooking videos.
The model, 23, has made a name for herself with her 'tradwife' content, which often sees her baking bread from scratch just to make her three children a light snack – all while wearing designer gear.
Nara – who is mum to Rumble Honey, four, Slim Easy, three, and Whimsy Lou, 14 months – has recently announced she is expecting her fourth child with husband Lucky Blue Smith.
But not all of her millions of followers were bursting with congratulations, with some showing concern for her health after undergoing back-to-back pregnancies at such a young age.
Nara herself took to social media to answer fans' burning questions about her latest bundle of joy, explaining she 'always wanted to be a young mum.'
Born Nara Aziza Pellman, she began modelling at the age of 14, working campaigns for the likes of Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, and Revolve. https://www.instagram.com/p/DJzl_fFv3VO/?hl=en
After meeting at Milan Fashion Week in 2019, Nara began dating fellow model Lucky Blue Smith before they tied the knot the following year.
They welcomed their first child, Rumbloe Honey, in October 2020, before having Slim Easy in 2022 and Whimsy Lou in April last year.
Lucky also has a daughter, Gravity Blue Smith, seven, with Stormi Henley, to whom Nara is a stepmother.
Nara began going viral on TikTok and Instagram between 2023 and 2024 for posting 'tradwife' content, often cooking elaborate meals for her family.
She also attracted attention for the unusual names she gave her children, as well as what they were almost called.
At the time of writing, she has 4.7million followers on Instagram and 11.8m followers on TikTok.
The latest controversy Nara is facing surrounds the announcement of her fourth pregnancy. https://www.instagram.com/p/DKpc14mR2Ru/?hl=en
Nara and Lucky announced their news in a video showing Nara's growing baby bump.
She wrote in the caption: 'Our little surprise🥹,' but not everyone was quick to congratulate the family.
On an Instagram post, Actxc99 wrote: 'Fully supported you before but this is actually becoming sad. Too many little ones so close.
'You've complained about exhaustion, health issues etc before, maybe think about the kids mental well being and attention their deserve. I'm exhausted for you.'
Echoing their thoughts, Itshserubi said Nara was 'living her nightmare' by having four children at 23, while Sarah.s22ss urged 'ask him to get a vasectomy sis.'
Dontmindmylogic said: 'Fourth child and you are 23 😭 congratulations but please learn about the contraceptives.'
'I remember you said you didn't want anymore atleast for now but seems like your man isn't taking the precautions to make sure your input is respected. 4 kids all under 25 is such a big toll on your body, but all i can pray for is a healthy delivery,' __Justken added.
On a video posted to TikTok on June 10, she explained her decision to have four children at the age of 23.
'No, I'm not having this many kids because I'm Mormon. I'm not Mormon. I just always wanted to be a young mom and do everything while I was really young. And I think that's just a personal preference for me,' she explained.
'I did a lot of the things that people in their 20s do when I was a teenager. So now I felt like I was ready to start a new chapter and do other things, which is being a mom. And I love being a mom and making that choice.'
Nara said that her fourth pregnancy was a 'surprise' and she was 'totally done after our last one.'
'Whimsy is only just about over a year, I guess it was meant to be,' she continued.
Addressing the backlash, she said: 'I waited to share for as long as I feel like I could because I knew that people were going to have all kinds of opinions.
'And me personally, I had to get used to the idea as well of having another kid since I mentally prepped to be done after Whimsy.'
But this is not the only controversy she has faced, with the influencer being criticised for making homemade sunscreen, causing an outcry from dermatologists, and facing accusations of plagiarising recipes.
She has also been condemned for her association with the tradwives movement across social media, as well as allegedly using her posts to spread 'Mormon propaganda.'
The tradwife movement is an internet aesthetic that glamourises traditional 1950s gender roles, notably encouraging women to embrace fundamentalist values such as being a homemaker, prioritising birthing and raising children, and being financially dependent on their husbands.
The lifestyle often, but not always, goes hand in hand with conservative Christian views and worship. https://www.instagram.com/p/DECB-vJOq_S/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/p/C43iWOiJd6H/?hl=en
Notable tradwife creators include Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farm, Estee Williams, Jane Williamson, and Rebecca Jackson.
While these content creators, often in their retro tea dresses, paint their lifestyles as idyllic, the tradwife movement has faced criticism for being 'regressive.'
Stacy Lee Kong, for Friday Things, described Smith and the trad wives movement as 'conservatism in disguise', writing: 'The more she shows up on my various feeds, the more sketched out I get. Or rather, the more I see other people, mostly young women themselves, idolize her life, the more I worry.
'Her internet popularity exists at the intersection of several problematic ideas, including the conservative glamorization of the domestic sphere and what feels like a sharp decline in media literacy.'
Nara has never explicitly called herself a trad wife, and has in fact stated she wouldn't label herself under the trend. More Trending
'That's one of the narratives that I have a really hard time wrapping my head around: the trad wife, whatever it is,' she told Harper's Bazaar.
'You don't see me getting on a plane, hopping to New York, modelling, coming back—all while I have a newborn—paying bills, filming content, getting my kids dressed.
'Being put into a certain box, just because people think that I'm slaving away, is so weird to me. I'm a working mum who gets to go about her day in a very different way than [someone with] a normal nine-to-five job would.'
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