Ex-Amish Teenager Busts Myths With Candid TikTok Videos

admin | May 13, 2024 | STORY | No Comments

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An ex-Amish teenager from Tennessee has gone viral on TikTok for giving the world an honest, unfiltered look at her life after leaving the insular Amish community. Elise Matson, 19, secretly started the account a couple years ago while living off-the-grid in remote Alaska with her family.

Her initial TikTok in 2022 racked up a staggering 13.7 million views as Matson revealed her former Amish community had no clue she owned a smartphone and was documenting her modern life for 1.2 million followers. “I got the phone so I could change some assumptions people have about the Amish – stuff made up in movies that isn’t accurate,” she said.

Matson’s parents gave their approval for her to have a phone, a necessity given the nearest hospital was a 7-hour drive away. She also used it for running a small online business. But her videos provided so much more – a nuanced portrayal of Amish traditions.

In one clip, the teen dispelled the myth about Amish people following the “biblically clean” Old Testament diet by pointing out that her community ate pork and didn’t abide by any Scripture-based food rules. Anothervidshowed her demonstrating how Amish women transition from wearing bonnets as babies to adopting the traditional full head coverings.

Matson didn’t hold back on sensitive topics either. She revealed unbaptized Amish members like herself could leave the community without facing shunning, though she still chooses to dress conservatively out of personal beliefs. The teenager also noted her former settlement’s minimum marriage age was 21.

After relocating from Tennessee’s Amish Eldridge settlement to Alaska in 2015, Matson returned this past January for an emotional visit with her “adopted” Amish grandparents and other relatives she remains close with despite her departure from the faith.

“The highlight was definitely surprising my adopted Amish grandparents, aunt and uncle. The look on their faces…will forever be in my heart,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “It was so good for my heart to be fully loved and understood.”

When not busting Amish stereotypes, Matson shares homesteading tips, recipes for traditional Amish cuisine like home-baked bread, and her dreams of one day building a tiny house on a trailer to withstand Alaska’s winters. She’s turned to followers for advice on costs and design plans.