South African influencer Nara Smith has opened up about her young daughter Whimsy’s cancer diagnosis.
Smith, 24, shares Whimsy, two, with husband Lucky Blue Smith, 28. The couple also shares three other children — Rumble Honey, five, Slim Easy, four, and Fawnie Golden (born in September) — as well as Lucky’s eight-year-old daughter, Gravity, from a previous relationship. They have been married since 2020.
The model, who is popular online for her elaborate cooking videos, said Wednesday that her daughter was diagnosed with a type of cancer late last year.
“When we saw something suspicious on her, we took her to the ER and they didn’t quite know what to make of it,” the content creator recalled. “When we took her into our pediatrician, I just remember him going really quiet and calm.”
She remembered her “heart dropped in that moment,” adding that she didn’t know “whether it was my gut telling me something or just a mom’s intuition, but the first thing that I felt was she has cancer.”
Smith said the pediatrician recommended they take her to a nearby children’s hospital. “After a lot of X-rays, ultrasounds, and finally a biopsy, they immediately called us and said that she had cancer…It had spread and that she needs to come and start chemo treatments immediately.”
Smith did not disclose what type of cancer Whimsy has, nor her current health status.
She noted that she has spoken with several other parents and families at the hospital and browsed numerous forums dedicated to parents going through similar situations. “All of that combined really brought me a lot of comfort and alleviated the feeling of loneliness for me,” she said. “Processing this and navigating all of this as a family has been really hard.”
Smith explained that trying to juggle hospital visits, raising her other children, being postpartum and work has been “really challenging,” which is why she has been posting less frequently.
“Some days are a little easier,” she said of finding a balance with all her priorities. “Some days are really hard, and all I can do is try my best and show up in all those areas in the best way that I can.”
Smith rose to fame in late 2023 for her lifestyle videos. She has long been accused of being a “tradwife,” an internet aesthetic that glamorizes 1950s gender roles and values, and packages it in a modern way that encourages women to embrace fundamentalist values.
She addressed the accusations in a 2024 video, saying: “I’ve always wanted to be a young mom because growing up, my dad would always tell us that he regrets having kids later in life.
“So I took that advice and it’s one of the best decisions I could have made, and I know it’s not for everyone,” Smith continued. “I was always very mature and independent and did a lot of things at a very young age. So I never feel like I’m missing out on any of the partying, any of that, because I’ve done all of that.”
