Darren Gerrish
Being a mother isn't easy, especially if you're Nara Smith.
The model and influencer — known for her TikToks of making food from scratch while dressed in stylish, designer outfits — told GQ that it can sometimes take up to seven hours for her to film a single video.
In the meantime, she'll feed her kids something simpler to prepare, like oatmeal, she said.
Smith, 22, is married to fellow model Lucky Blue Smith, with whom she has three children: Slim Easy, 2, and daughters Rumble Honey, 3, and Whimsy Lou, who was born in April.
The model, who has amassed 9.1 million followers on TikTok, went viral earlier this year when her dreamy recipe videos blew up on the platform.
In her videos, Smith is often seen dressed in impeccable outfits from the likes of Chanel and Rodarte, with a full face of makeup and every single strand of hair brushed into place, making things like bubblegum and even cola from scratch.
With a low, breathy voiceover and soft music playing in the background, Smith's videos romanticize everyday domesticity and show a strikingly different version of motherhood from the average person.
While her aspirational videos have captivated internet users, she's also amassed her fair share of critics who slam her for being a "trad wife" and glorifying conservative gender roles.
"Everything that Nara Smith does in her videos is everything that the patriarchy has taught us to do as women," a fellow TikTok content creator Jennifer, who goes by the handle @saintjenni, said in a video that has since amassed over 136,000 views. "She is selling you this lifestyle that is not attainable to most women."
Others say she's staging her videos, stealing recipe ideas, and claim she has a team of assistants who do the work for her.
"What people think online is that we have housekeepers and cleaners and nannies and all of these things, when in reality it's just me and Lucky wanting a family and sharing our lives online," she told GQ, adding that her husband helps with the cleaning.
She also defends herself against the trad wife narrative, saying she's only making content she enjoys.
"In no way am I saying this is normal or this is something people have to do in order to be a certain way," Smith said. "Whether it's a meal idea, or a home-cooked meal I've made my toddler, or my soothing voice, or whatever it is, I just put content out there to inspire people. Everyone can take whatever they want to from my content."
As for her outfits, it's all because she has "a fashion background," Smith added.
"And I love dressing up. I love doing my makeup and looking put together, and I love cooking in cool outfits. That just became a part of my content that people liked seeing. Rumble loves when I throw on a dress. She's like, 'You look so pretty, Mommy,'" she said.
Trad wife content on social media has taken off post-pandemic as more and more women struggle to balance work and family life.
"It literally is a fantasy for the alt-right," Tyler Bender, a comedian and commentator who has created TikToks satirizing the traditional wife lifestyle, previously told Business Insider.
The trend may also be linked to the rollback of Roe v. Wade — both of which feel like a step back in time. Some critics say trad wife content panders to the conservative belief that men and women have specific roles in society.
Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent via Instagram DM outside regular business hours.
