Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
“My Unorthodox Life” is an American reality television series by Netflix. It follows the life of the main character, Julia Haart. Julia is an amazing person who I have come to adore through the show. She is amazing because of her generous personality, but moreover because of her journey.
Julia was raised in Munsey, N.Y., as an ultra Orthodox Jew, where she had and raised four children during her arranged marriage. During that time, she was a pillar of the community all while secretly saving money for her eventual escape from her Orthodox life at age 42.
Amazingly, she then started her own shoe company and eventually became the CEO of the Elite modeling agency in NYC.
The nine-episode series documents Haart and her children’s decision to leave the Haredi Jewish community in Monsey and their strict religious observances and principles that were viewed by Haart as a form of “fundamentalism.”
Haart’s unbelievable journey and her huge heart is very captivating as she helps all of her children navigate the journey from a very strict Orthodox upbringing to the crazy world of wealthy NYC and high fashion, dating, sexuality, and all the other influences that their new life introduces and exposes them to. Haart also helps her best friend and chief operating officer of Elite World Group, Robert Brotherton, battle weight insecurities and dating.
The show features Haart’s four children, Batsheva, Shlomo, Miriam, and Aron, and her second husband, Italian entrepreneur Silvio Scaglia Haart. I love all the aspects of the show, from the struggle of past and present, observing the high-powered fashion industry, NYC, and the love and relationships of the family and friends. But most of all, I really am attracted to Haarts altruism and the way she helps others. She performs amazing acts of kindness and giving, not only to her kids, her friends and her family, but also to complete strangers. In one episode, she invites a girl who reached out to her on Instagram to the city to help her with her decision to also leave the Orthodox community. I am only in season one of the two-season show (there are whispers of a third season to come) but I find myself always wanting to see what happens in the next episode which is something you want when watching a series. I wouldn’t recommend “My Unorthodox Life’ to everyone, but I do think it has elements of life and struggle that we can all relate to.
