Audio Recording From Ballerina Farm Times Interview Exposes Dishonest Journalism

Baseless rumors about the Neelemans – otherwise known as The Ballerina Farm – have taken over social media following their interview with The Times.

Claims emerged suggesting that Hannah Neeleman, who shares eight children with husband Daniel Neeleman, is a victim who sacrificed her dreams of becoming a ballerina for motherhood, that she takes on all of the workload, and that Daniel mistreats her and is a controlling figure who silences her. These narratives have yet to be proven, but the audience has already decided to victimize Hannah.

What people seem to forget, however, is how journalists are tasked with sensationalizing stories for clicks and virality, and writer Megan Agnew's piece on Ballerina Farm is no exception. Arriving at the Neelemans' rustic home in Utah, Agnew was welcomed in by the family, perhaps with the expectation of being portrayed in a more positive or at least an accurate light. But let's be honest: a story about a happy and thriving family won't make headlines.

Alas, the published article only fueled assumptions that Hannah was living a life out of the Handmaid's Tale. The readers ran with it, and anyone who came to the Neelemans' defense this week was met with harsh criticism. For some reason, people cannot comprehend that some women still want to adopt a more traditional lifestyle. And if you choose that path in life, you're a victim.

A newly released audio recording suggests that the article distorted the reality of the Neelemans' relationship. To me, and to the thousands who read it, the piece seemed to portray a power imbalance – which we now know is further from the truth.

Audio Recording of Hannah Neeleman Left Out of Interview

Agnew had to pick and choose the "compelling" parts of the interview. It's her job. It's as though journalists have become propagandists, with legacy media choosing to portray traditional family roles as an unfavorable or forced outcome. And even though everyone labels Hannah as a "trad wife," she has stated that she's "traditional" in some ways and "modern" in others (she and Daniel are co-CEOs of their company). Everyone has brushed over this in the same way that Agnew appeared to gloss over Hannah's comment about choosing motherhood over her dancing career.

Recordings clipped and released by The Times contain dialogue from Hannah that was omitted from the article. The audio is from The Story podcast, an episode that Agnew was featured in. "You give up pieces of yourself," Hannah can be heard telling the journalist, adding that she doesn't think she would change that.

The next clip contained the part I felt was incredibly wrong for Agnew to leave out: "But Daniel was like, 'If you wanna dance, go dance.'"

Unlike what the audience had initially believed, Hannah's husband allowed her to continue with ballet. "We were open to anything, but I knew deep down that I wanted to raise my babies," she said. The truth is Hannah wanted to dedicate her time to motherhood, so she did. That was her choice – but the media had successfully made it seem like it wasn't.

The audio continues with Agnew admitting that Hannah "seemingly loves her life. I'm not saying that she's kind of tricked or coerced into going at all." Likewise, I'm not saying that Agnew had sinister motives to portray Hannah as a poor victim with no escape. Regardless, the outcome of her piece has been an unfair representation of the Neelemans. What Agnew chose to emphasize was how Daniel supposedly kept interrupting Hannah and how she shared storage space with her kids. Ask yourself if this was intentional and why.

Interestingly, Agnew released a new piece with a more positive tone on the Ballerina Farm. In it, she finally states that being a mom was Hannah's choice. The first article also made it seem like Agnew couldn't speak with Hannah one-on-one because of Daniel, but the new piece explains that they never even agreed on a private conversation. Again, she decided to leave these details out.

The recording returns to Hannah discussing her equal partnership with Daniel: "We're a partnership now, you know. I don't feel like I'm at home raising kids by myself; that's hard." In a Q&A video released by the couple on YouTube, Daniel reiterated that he stays home all day to help with housework and "loves it." The couple have always worked together, and Hannah has said this many, many times. Ironically, while The Times' audience claims that Daniel isn't listening to Hannah, they themselves are the ones ignoring her. They are minimizing her voice to fit their narrative.

Hannah continued, "And women need support. And when Daniel was like, 'Okay, let's build something together. We really carry the mantle together.'"

Hannah has broken her silence regarding The Times article. You can read what she had to say here.

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