Tradwife Parodied onSNLAddresses Controversial Lifestyle, Wants Women to 'Get Back in the Kitchens' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Gretchen Adler; Heidi Gardner in ‘SNL’ sketch.Photo:Gretchen Adler; Saturday Night Live/YouTube

Gretchen Adler; Saturday Night Live/YouTube

Saturday Night Livespared few famous TikTok influencers and trends in itsrecent social media sketch, and the viral “tradwife” lifestyle was no exception to the joke.

The episode — which aired on Oct. 19 — featured a sketchrecreating the experience of scrolling through TikTok, with cast members imitating the likes ofCall Her DaddyhostAlex CooperandTikToker Harry Danielsin alternating clips.

To some, it seemed the comedians took a more general approach when parodying tradwives, many of whom are young women sharing looks into their lives as stay-at-home mothers. Others recognized thatSNLstarHeidi Gardner’s performance most closely resembledGretchen Adler’s videos, and the self-identifying tradwife tells PEOPLE she “immediately” caught on to the fact that she inspired the bit.

The San Diego influencer, 38, says the show replicated several noteworthy details from her own videos, like the setting where she typically films, a white kitchen with a marble backsplash. In the sketch, Gardner appears to mix raw beef in a bowl while wearing a diamond ring, just as Adler does — and she knows it’s something her viewers notice.

While Adler isn’t the only tradwife known to make elaborate recipes from scratch with locally sourced ingredients, she owns the fact that Gardner was likely riffing off Adler’s content when introducing her character’s means of making beef tacos: “I slaughtered our cow and picked the corn myself,” the actress said in a voiceover for her “Life as a Tradwife” parody.

Gretchen Adler.Gretchen Adler

Gretchen Adler

“I often talk about the quality of the meats and I know everything about my meat, where it’s from, because it’s raised on my parents' farm,” Adler tells PEOPLE. “Of course the animal was slaughtered there, and so it’s sort of farm to table.”

“I think they should have given me some sort of credit,” says Adler. “Especially because a lot of people who may not know who I am immediately jumped to conclusions that it must be somebody else with the other content creators that are in my niche.”

However not all of Adler’s viewers took Gardner’s impression with the same grain of salt.

Gretchen Adler with her kids.Gretchen Adler

“Some of them are angry because they think thatSNLis making fun of me and they’re really putting down what I do,” says the mom of three. “I don’t see it like that, because I seeSNLas actors that are impersonating, whether it’s celebrities or popular themes in society, and then they make fun of it, but not in a negative way, but just poking fun at it to make comedy. So I see them as having done that.”

Not to mention that there’s an added publicity bonus to theSNLsketch, but not just for Adler exclusively. Even if in jest, she sees it as the show helping to bring the tradwife lifestyle into the mainstream, and the creator hopes more women will adopt her same mindset.

“It brings to light such an important female role, and that is the tradwife,” Adler tells PEOPLE. “We’re definitely seeing a resurgence of the tradwife, which really is extremely important because we really need to get back in the kitchens, take back our homes, raise our children, not outsource that, and just really build the home again.”

Gretchen Adler with her daughter.Gretchen Adler

That’s why Adler sees herself as an embodiment of the next-generation tradwife, or “tradwife 2.0,” as she calls it.

“I’ve sort of taken the positive aspects from the 1950s tradwife, and also I’ve taken positive aspects from the feminist movement, which is of course very important for women,” she explains. “I’ve combined those into tradwife 2.0, which is the best of tradwife 1950s and the best of the feminist movement. We don’t have to be all-in tradwife 1950s or all-in feminist, liberal movement. We can combine the best of those.”

Adler points to her appreciation for education as a key feminist aspect of her modernized approach. She tells PEOPLE she went to Babson College to focus on entrepreneurship and believes in solidifying a foundation that helps women pursue their passions. In addition to her social media presence, Adler runs her women’s health and lifestyle brand,Gretchy, and created an online course called “The Nourishing Kitchen Master Class.”

She learned this mindset from her mother, who worked as an architect before having children. After Adler and her siblings were born, her mom gave up her career to be a stay-at-home mom. “[She was] very much involved with raising the children, giving us healthy foods and meals,” says Adler.

Gretchen Adler making food at home.Gretchen Adler

After Adler’s mom experience giving up work for family, she encouraged her daughters to pursue entrepreneurship as a path to fulfillment within the home.

“She knew what had happened to her, and she had to sort of leave her education and her work because she had children. She didn’t want us to have that too,” says Adler.

“I have never felt more fulfilled in my entire life than when I started having children and figuring out how to incorporate my entrepreneurial passions into this lifestyle as well. My life is very fast-paced. It’s very vibrant and energetic, and it’s exciting,” she says. “I really am at the best place in my life that I’ve ever been at. So I think being a tradwife 2.0 is extremely exciting. I think that people would want to embrace the role if they knew what was involved.”

source: people.com