Lauren Southern: A Far-Right Tradwife Discovered That Living a Life of Subjugation Was Actually Not That Great

As of the time of this writing, conservative political pundit Lauren Southern has a little over 700,000 subscribers to her YouTube Channel. On her website, Southern describes herself as a "Canadian journalist, author, and documentary filmmaker" who "does not shy away from controversial political crises." She titles her videos using conspiracy theory–style language like The Truth Behind the Ozempic Craze and The Mass Graves Hoax Start to Finish: Is It Over?

Southern is a lot of things. She is a self-published author who has been banned by Patreon and GoFundMe; she is someone who the Southern Poverty Law Center refers to as Canada's alt-right dog whistler. She pines for the Crusades, wants to "cure" Muslims of their hatred of the West, and at one point was a tradwife. Southern left the abusive world of tradwifedom and has since publicly condemned that lifestyle. Here's what we know about the ultra-conservative influencer's divorce.

According to UnHerd magazine, in 2019 Southern turned her back on the following she had gathered as a conservative political commentator (and, at times, agitator) in order to fully invest in her marriage. She moved to Australia, where her husband was from, and was seemingly on board with the "nurturing, feminine, and domestic role promoted by right-wing traditionalists, idealized by 'tradwife' influencers, and criticized by progressives as 'dangerous and stupid,'" per the mag.

It only took four years for Southern to go from a 1950s nightmare to life as a single mom escaping an abusive marriage. She and her ex-husband met when Southern was 22 years-old and already making a name for herself as a right-leaning conservative. They married four months later which was immediately followed by pregnancy. "I thought I’d won the lottery," she told UnHerd.

As with all abusive relationships, it didn't take long for Southern's husband to show his true colors. "If I ever disagreed with him in any capacity he’d just disappear, for days at a time," she recalled. "I remember there were nights where he’d call me worthless and pathetic, then get in this car and leave." Southern was still emotionally embedded in the anti-feminist rhetoric she had been pushing for years, which caused her to blame herself for the actions of her husband.

A classic move of abusers is to separate the victim from everything they know, which what Southern's husband did when he took a job in Australia. Because it required a high level of government security clearance, he demanded that she scrub herself from the Internet. Afraid he would leave her if she didn't comply, Southern did as she was told. She told UnHerd that her role in their relationship was to be "the more submissive one that supports my husband’s dreams." Things only got worse from there.

Life for Southern was relentless, and left little room for her own needs. Because she was unemployed, Southern would take care of all the household duties on her own. She was solely responsible for raising their child, and while her husband was at university, Southern did his homework for him. However, nothing she did was ever good enough for her husband who would often berate Southern, saying she was worthless and pathetic. "ll you do is sit around and take care of the baby and do chores," he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic made it worse which is when Southern figured out that her husband appeared to like her more when she was working. So, she slowly eased her way back onto the internet which resulted in her husband being both angry when she worked and enraged when she didn't make enough money.

Ultimately Southern's divorce was initiated by her husband after she flew home to Canada when two deaths in her family called her back. Her husband forced Southern to sign an affidavit promising she would return, but upon landing in Canada he texted that he wanted a divorce. Apparently he was displeased with the fact that she decided to travel, defying his wishes.

Her life after divorce has been immeasurably happier as Southern worked to reprogram her thinking. "Post-divorce, after becoming a single mother, my mental health started to improve," she shared. "I started to repair all these really important friendships. And I’m living a much happier, much healthier life than I was before." For Southern, the key to true joy is living in reality.