Who is Nara Pellman? Meet the Mormon tradwife taking TikTok by storm

By Abby Amoakuh

Updated Feb 21, 2024 at 12:50 PM

Reading time: 4 minutes

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Images courtesy of Nara Smith from Tiktok

I am not sure about you, but I always found tradwife influencers to be incredibly forgettable and eerie. There is just something about a woman in a tight blouse, swinger skirt, and Marilyn Monroe locks telling you to prioritise motherhood and domestic duties above all that screams outdated 1950s advert for laundry detergent. Personally, I’m going to pass. But, leave it to a gorgeous model with the ability to make Oreos and granola from scratch to finally make it seem like an aspirational lifestyle to Gen Z.

German and South African model and influencer Nara Pellman is parenting Tiktok’s latest obsession. The 22-year-old lives in Los Angeles with her husband and fellow model Lucky Blue Smith. The couple also share two toddlers, Rumble Honey and Slim Easy. If you scroll through Smith’s page, you’re immediately struck with what seems to be the perfect life. Her family’s days are filled with glamorous outfits, trips to swanky restaurants, vacations in Capri, as well as lots of homemade goodies made with much love from mommy.

Despite her young age, Smith is currently pregnant with the pair’s third baby. Recent TikTok videos feature the model lovingly stroking her baby bump while donning a ‘more carats than I can probably count’ wedding ring on her tiny little, perfectly manicured finger.

While scrolling through Smith’s TikTok and Instagram, I found myself mesmerised and jealous at the same time. How is this girl, who is two years younger than me, living a dream that I didn’t even know I had?

A dream where every meal that you cook looks like it came from a five-star restaurant, and where you go to an actual five-star restaurant when you’re tired of cooking. One where your hair is never messy, and if it is messy, it’s in a sexy, Instagramable way. And your house is always flooded with natural light, and filled with expensive furniture that never seems to get the tiniest bit dirty despite having not one but two toddlers at home.

If someone wanted to create an ad to lure Gen Z into early parenthood, Nara’s TikTok presence would definitely be it, because I want in now.

Sign me up for that Smith tradwife life would have been my response to this theoretical commercial had I not caught wind of all the controversy surrounding the influencer…

While Smith has been silent about her religion on social media, her husband is an out and proud Mormon. The 25-year-old was born and raised in Spanish Fork, Utah, where most of his family still live. They are all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). 

This specific domination of church is quite controversial due to its long history of racism, anti-queerness and polygamy or plural marriage for men. The Mormon faith also insists on chastity, as well as sobriety from alcohol, smoking and caffeine. Lucky’s religion has never been kept a secret, however, he never speaks about it.

In fact, it seems to add a layer of dark mystery to his public persona. Lucky has over 2.8 million Instagram followers and a fanbase that adoringly calls itself the Lucky Charms, despite much of the controversy his church is subjected to.

 

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A post shared by LUCKY BLUE SMITH (@luckybsmith)

Back in 2015, The Guardian reached out to Lucky’s parents to establish how his religion might be clashing with the world of fame. In response, the model’s mother stated: “We definitely have concerns [about the perils of fame] but we have confidence and faith in our children. There have been countless discussions about how it is OK to be in the world, but you don’t have to be of the world. He’s an honest kid. He’s squeaky clean, he doesn’t go to clubs. It’s all about work for him at the moment.”

It should also be noted that despite the church’s insistence on eternal marriage and sexual purity, Lucky shares a daughter, Gravity Blue, with his ex-girlfriend, singer, actress, and model Stormi Bree.

 

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A post shared by @stormibree

It’s impossible to tell whether or not Smith is inadvertently pushing Mormon propaganda on her social media, predominantly due to the fact that the mother of three has not spoken about her faith on the platform. Even still, the influencer is facing much backlash due to her extended family’s membership in the Mormon church. It should be noted that projecting Lucky’s family’s beliefs on her robs Nara of agency and independence. She probably still has a mind of her own.

Still, social media users had their thoughts about her presumed religion:

And, all of a sudden, the spell around Nara’s picture-perfect life seemed to be broken by the assumption that there was something more ‘sinister’ going on. Is it possible that all the content around homemade meals, family life, and the bliss of marriage has an underlying racist, sexist and anti-Black message? That’s what countless TikTokers seem to be debating.

It should be noted that loving cooking and taking care of a family isn’t exclusively a Mormon or a Christian value. The broad appeal of Smith’s content proves this. It would also be patronising and villainising to let our understanding of the 22-year-old be guided by our understanding of Mormonism.

Of course, there is also an element of deceit that plays a role here. Watching Smith’s content feels like being roped into a beautiful, harmless dream that showcases idealised motherhood and an idyllic home life. Now, people are discovering that it is not all quite as perfect as they initially thought it was.

But when did we forget that being online means perpetually being sold something? Whether its  products and services or people commodifying the most likeable aspects of themselves for our attention, we are always watching a commercial.

It seems like the Smith family would keep their business and faith separate for that very reason and I suggest that, until further notice, we all do the same.