Who is Nara Smith, the “perfect woman” who is causing controversy on social networks?

In the culinary sphere of social networks, there are recipe creators and good address hunters. And then there’s Nara Smith. At the age of 23, this influencer and model of South African and German origin built her success by publishing recipes on TikTok and Instagram. His trademark? Cooking recipes «from scratch“, that is to say from A to Z, for her three children and her husband, like Coke, homemade cereals or even chewing gum. And this while being dressed to the nines, dressed in the latest fashionable creations and adopting a soft, veiled voice, as well as controlled gestures. A controlled image, sometimes admired, sometimes criticized, with some Internet users accusing him of advocating the movement translator this phenomenon advocating, on social networks, a return of the perfect housewife. With her husband, model Lucky Blue Smith, idol of teenagers on Tumblr in the 2010s, the couple embodies the image of the ideal couple. A surreal, fascinating, almost disturbing perfection.

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Mother of three children before the age of 23

Nara Aziza Smith was born Nara Pellman in South Africa on September 27, 2001. At just three months old, she moved to Frankfurt, Germany, her father’s hometown, where she grew up with her brother and sister. At 14, she was spotted by a modeling agency, a career that took her to Los Angeles four years later. It was there that she met the American model Lucky Blue Smith. Slathered blond hair, luscious lips, piercing blue eyes… He too has worked in modeling since his childhood, his almost extraterrestrial physique leading him several times on the covers of Vogue, or even on the catwalks of Ralph Lauren, Emporio Armani and Versace. In February 2020, just six months after meeting, they said “yes” in Los Angeles.

A few months passed before Nara Smith announced the arrival of a first daughter on Instagram, named Rumble Honey Smith. Very quickly, two other children were born, a son, Slim Easy, born on January 6, 2022, and a daughter, Whimsy Lou, born in April 2024. For his part, Lucky Blue Smith is already the father of a little girl, Gravity, born in 2017 from his relationship with actress Stormi Henley. Results for Nara Smith: three children before the age of 23 and a daughter-in-law.

In March 2024, Nara Smith spoke about this choice in a TikTok video titled “Get to know me”: “Growing up, my father always told me that he regretted having had children so late. I listened to his advice and it was one of the best decisions I could have made. I know it’s not for everyone. I have always been very mature and independent, I had a lot of experiences at a very young age, so I never feel like I’m missing out, because I’ve been there before. The couple is also making a lot of headlines for the daring names they gave to their children. In March 2023, Nara Smith published a video on TikTok in which she listed the first names she had finally given up, such as “Frosty”, “Crow”, or even “Cherry”. » (“cherry”), prompting taunts from Internet users: “Slim Easy? And why not Eminem?”, comments one, “Are your children rappers from the 1980s?”, quips another.

Cook, model, mom

But it is above all thanks to her culinary talents that Nara Smith’s career is taking off, her TikTok account having gained more than 3 million followers since 2023 thanks to her recipes. It all begins with the realization of an unbeatable American snack: “My daughter came into my room this morning and asked me for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” she explains in a dignified tone. of an ASMR session in a video published on TikTok on January 11. Nothing extraordinary a priori, except that Nara prepares her own bread, her own raspberry jam and her own peanut butter, wearing a dressing gown with fur-lined sleeves, her impeccably styled bob and rounded stomach. by pregnancy.

In the comments, some make fun of this nonchalant perfection and point out the unrealistic side of this lifestyle: “Imagine, you ask your mother for a sandwich and she starts making bread,” comments one, “She woke up, wanted a sandwich and had to wait 3 hours to eat it”, “Next step: growing my own raspberries and wheat”, “I have about three seconds to give what my little one wants before “He starts screaming,” says another mother. Regardless of the criticism, the video has 18.6 million views: Nara Smith has found the formula that works and multiplies recipe formats “from A to Z”, like her lasagna, for which she prepares her own own mozzarella, or even his homemade chewing gum, because “his sister wanted some and didn’t have any left”.

Translator…

If Nara Smith amuses, in particular because of the multiple parodies of the young woman multiplying on social networks, others denounce her lifestyle, accusing her of glorifying gendered and conservative clichés. “Everything Nara Smith does in her videos is everything the patriarchy has taught us to do as women,” analyzes a user on TikTok, “don’t get me wrong, I love Nara Smith, and I think it’s awesome that she cooks, but we must also understand that the content she creates is “tradwife” content. She sells a lifestyle that is unattainable for most women. It’s an image shaped with a lot of attention to what a mother should look like,” explains @SaintJenni in a video. Nara Smith vaguely mentioned this label that sticks to her in an interview with GQ on August 7: “Whether it’s a meal idea, a dish I prepared for my little one, my soothing voice or anything else, I don’t just make content available to inspire people. Everyone can get what they want from it,” she concluded.

…and Mormons

Another subject of controversy? His religion. Indeed, the family of her husband, Lucky Blue Smith, belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in other words: the Mormons. A very controversial religion for the inequalities it maintains between women and men, with some Internet users perceiving Nara Smith as one of its victims. A rumor that she again addressed in a TikTok video: “I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m still learning and discovering my own faith. I’m not at all a die-hard Mormon or anything like that. My husband and I are going our own way and figuring out how we want to raise our children,” she explained. While Nara Smith is regularly under fire from critics, she enjoys considerable support on social media, with some seeing her as a daily inspiration, others simply as a woman who does what she pleases. Loved or hated, one thing is certain: Nara Smith continues to fascinate.