“A man is not a plan,” that’s whatJennie Gage, a mother of five who left her marriage at 44, stated when criticizing the “tradwife” trend of content on TikTok.
HighlightsJennie Gage, a former Mormon mother of five, left her marriage at 44 to challenge the ‘tradwife’ trend on TikTok.Gage criticizes the ‘tradwife’ trend for glamorizing traditional roles without addressing the downsides, highlighting women’s dependency on their husbands.Gage’s marriage ended after her husband cheated twice, leading to their divorce in 2018 and her subsequent struggle to rebuild her life.
Now, 6 years after her divorce and living in Tucson, Arizona, the 50-year-old speaks candidly about her journey from self-described “tradwife” to finding her own voice.
“Your financial future and your children’s financial stability should not be dependent on your husband loving you,” she explained.
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A former Mormon mother of five left her marriage at 44 and now challenges the “traditional wife” trend on TikTok, which she feels glamorizes the lifestyle without addressing its downsides
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Gage revealed in an interview withPeoplethat raising five kids for 24 years made her live under what she described as “immense stress.”
“Only in hindsight did I realize that it was taking a toll on my health, even though it all seemed perfect from the outside.”
The influencer now dedicates herself to challenging the “tradwife” movement, which has gained both popularity andcontroversyonline.
Thetrendshowcases women who believe in the cultural and societal value of homemaker roles.
Some are more practical about it, deciding to emphasize the benefits of such a lifestyle in modern society, while others take it a step further and connect the trend with a return to a more rural lifestyle, complete with activities like milling their own flour and planting their own vegetables.
On the other hand, critics likeGagebelieve the trend undermines the progress toward women’s equality and argue that because the wife is ultimately dependent on her husband’s income, they are put in avulnerable positionthat opens them to abuse and neglect.
Jennie is specifically critical of the Bible, believing certain teachings contained within it to be harmful if taken literally.
Gage and her now ex-husband, Jason Green, met on a blind date in June 1995 after a mutual friend set them up on a blind date.
The couple and their friend were all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known informally asMormons, who believe that marriage is essential to one’s spiritual salvation.
Because of this, Latter-day Saints (LDS) believe that a married couple is effectively “sealed” to each other, and they are promised posterity in the afterlife; this ceremony is different from the usual legal wedding, and it is referred to as a “celestial marriage.”
Gage states in her interview that being a member of the church put extra pressure on her to marry early and have a large family.
The couple married soon after their first date, only six weeks later, on July 28, 1995. Jennie soon regretted the decision.
“After a few months, I knew I had made a mistake,” she said.
“I was probably not designed to be a Mormon stay-at-home mom,” Gage said jokingly.
Gage’s husband cheated on her twice, causing the marriage to fall apart. Finding herself with no job history and kids to raise, the mother tried to take her own life
Jennie recognizes that her religious background played a big role in how her life turned out, revealing that she was made to take care of her younger siblings and was never encouraged to pursue other life paths aside from being a caregiver.
“It was like a housewife immersion program designed to prepare me for nothing but wifehood,” she explained.
Her breaking point came after she discovered that her husband, Jason, had been unfaithful for years.
The couple tried to reconcile, and Gage gave him another chance, trying to work things out.
Jason, however, cheated again, leading to their divorce in October 2018, with three children still at home.
The dissolution of their marriage broke Jennie, and she tried to take her own life.
“I survived suicide — barely, barely,” she revealed. “They saved me, but I was in a coma for 10 hours and I have a brain injury.”
Despite her tremendous pain, Jennie Gage managed to turn her life around, finding new love and a new mission in life: revealing the pitfalls behind the apparent glamor of the “tradwife” trend
Her departure from both her marriage and church led to the loss of her home, financial security, and much of her family support. Having no job experience or marketable skills and just $6 in her bank account, she felt overwhelmed.
“I was recovering from an ovarian tumor, I never had a job. I didn’t have a bank account. I didn’t even know how to file for divorce,” she explained.
Gage began flipping furniture from thrift stores and working in telephone sales to make ends meet. Despite supporting her husband in building two businesses, she never mentioned having received any financial aid from him.
Her life slowly started to get better, and in 2019, she found love again with Kevin Reinke, a teacher who recognized her from social media.
“He was getting gas at the pump behind me, I thought he was gorgeous and decided to say hello,” she recalls.
With a successful and ever-growing media following onher TikTok page,which has almost 400,000 followers and more than 6 million likes, as well as a new and healthy relationship, Gage feels she’s on a better path.
“I’m on social media to paint a picture of independence and happiness,” she said, adding, “We have good friends, and Kevin’s parents have become substitute grandparents to my kiddos. So I lost my family, but the people that I have in my life now love me.”
Some of Gage’s viewers agreed with her critiques of biblical marriage teachings, while others argued the problem was with how some misuse their faith to mistreat partners
“I don’t think the issue is biblical marriage values but instead men who use it as a guise to manipulate/abuse their naive wives,” one of her fans said.
“When you start depending on someone financially, it can lead to the person you depend on being financially abusive,” another explained. “This is my main worry with tradwives being advertised to young girls.”
“I also think the trad wife influencers on TikTok aren’t the real deal. They treat the videos as a form of dual income,” wrote one viewer.
“This is exactly my issue with this recent push for tradwife lives. I only see young girls advising this life, but every older woman will tell you otherwise,” another replied.
Inconsistencies in the Mormon lifestyle, like Gage’s husband’s cheating, have been at the forefront of discussions in recent months, mainly due to shows likeThe Secret Lives of Mormon Wivespremiering on Hulu on September 6, 2024.
“Young girls need this,” wrote one of her fans as others praised Gage for turning her life around and sharing her testimony as a former “tradwife”
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