{ "id": "epxcks93vn", "slug": "my-unorthodox-life", "title": "My Unorthodox Life", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted", "label": "Unscripted, reality, and web-native series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted.celebrity-lifestyle-court-reality", "label": "Celebrity, family, lifestyle, and court reality series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted.celebrity-lifestyle-court-reality" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted.celebrity-lifestyle-court-reality.lifestyle-dating-and-docusoaps", "label": "Lifestyle, dating, and docusoaps", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted.celebrity-lifestyle-court-reality.lifestyle-dating-and-docusoaps" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted.celebrity-lifestyle-court-reality.lifestyle-dating-and-docusoaps.celebrity-and-family-docusoaps", "label": "Celebrity and family docusoaps", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted.celebrity-lifestyle-court-reality.lifestyle-dating-and-docusoaps.celebrity-and-family-docusoaps" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted.celebrity-lifestyle-court-reality.lifestyle-dating-and-docusoaps.celebrity-and-family-docusoaps.yr-2019-2026", "label": "Premiered 2019 to 2026", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted.celebrity-lifestyle-court-reality.lifestyle-dating-and-docusoaps.celebrity-and-family-docusoaps.yr-2019-2026" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted", "label": "United States · 2021 and later: Unscripted, reality, and web-native series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021", "label": "United States · 2021 and later", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted", "label": "Unscripted, reality, and web-native series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted" } ] } ], "excerpt": "My Unorthodox Life is a Netflix reality series (2021-2022) about Julia Haart, former ultra-Orthodox Jewish community member and Elite World Group CEO, and her four children; two seasons, 18 episodes, ended December 2022.", "snippet": "My Unorthodox Life is a Netflix reality series (2021-2022) about Julia Haart, former ultra-Orthodox Jewish community member and Elite World Group CEO, and her four children; two seasons, 18 episodes, ended December 2022.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_unscripted.celebrity-lifestyle-court-reality.lifestyle-dating-and-docusoaps.celebrity-and-family-docusoaps.yr-2019-2026", "markdown": "# My Unorthodox Life\n\n**My Unorthodox Life** is an American reality television series on Netflix that follows [Julia Haart](https://www.edgepedia.org/julia-haart), a fashion executive who left an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, and her four children as they navigate careers, relationships, and religion.[1](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/81175724) Its first season premiered on July 14, 2021, and the series ran for two seasons of nine episodes each before ending in December 2022.[2](https://uk.newonnetflix.info/info/81175724)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Format | Reality series (docusoap), 41-minute episodes, rated TV-MA[3](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/my-unorthodox-life) |\n| Subject | Julia Haart, CEO of Elite World Group from 2019 until her removal by Silvio Scaglia on February 9, 2022, and formerly a member of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Monsey, New York[4](https://time.com/6080344/my-unorthodox-life-review/) • [16](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/my-unorthodox-life-season-2-release-date-cast-news) |\n| Seasons | Season 1 premiered July 14, 2021; Season 2 released December 2, 2022; 18 episodes total, status ended[2](https://uk.newonnetflix.info/info/81175724) |\n| Family cast | Batsheva, Shlomo, Miriam, and Aron Haart[5](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/my-unorthodox-life) |\n| Production | Haart approached producer Jeff Jenkins herself and serves as an executive producer[6](https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a37078473/when-was-my-unorthdox-life-filmed-julia-haart/) |\n| Reception | IMDb 5.7/10; Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer 38% from 4 critic reviews[3](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/my-unorthodox-life) • [7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/my_unorthodox_life/s01) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Premise and subject\n\nThe series centers on Julia Haart, who became chief executive of the modeling company Elite World Group in 2019. Six years earlier she had been living what the *TIME* critic Judy Berman calls a fully frum life in Monsey, in New York's Rockland County, keeping house, raising her four children, wearing wigs, and strictly observing the Jewish sabbath.[4](https://time.com/6080344/my-unorthodox-life-review/) Haart has said she prepared to leave over eight years, educating herself through books and selling life insurance to build savings, and that she began speaking publicly about her background only after being named creative director of the luxury lingerie brand La Perla in 2016.[8](https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a37024283/my-unorthodox-life-julia-haart-book-career-interview/) • [9](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-07-14/netflix-my-unorthodox-life-julia-haart)\n\nHer four children appear at different points on the religious spectrum. Batsheva, the eldest, grew up entirely in Monsey and married a man from the community; Miriam is an app designer; Shlomo was navigating dating in New York while studying toward law; and Aron, the youngest, was torn between his mother's secular world and Orthodox observance, including a desire to attend yeshiva full-time.[4](https://time.com/6080344/my-unorthodox-life-review/) • [10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a553JOZq-4) • [1](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/81175724)\n\n### Season 2\n\nThe second season, released on December 2, 2022, covers a rupture in Haart's professional and personal life: her husband [Silvio Scaglia](https://www.edgepedia.org/silvio-scaglia) removed her as CEO of Elite World Group, and the two filed for divorce, leaving her to battle for control of the business.[1](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/81175724) • [16](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/my-unorthodox-life-season-2-release-date-cast-news) The season also follows her efforts to reconnect with Batsheva, to support Miriam in her first committed relationship with a woman, and to dissuade Aron from leaving secular school for Orthodox yeshiva.[1](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/81175724)\n\n## Production\n\nHaart initiated the show herself. She has said that Netflix and Jeff Jenkins of Jeff Jenkins Productions did not approach her; she approached Jenkins, and together they pitched the idea to Netflix. She also serves as an executive producer and described the production as the most collaborative experience of her life.[6](https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a37078473/when-was-my-unorthdox-life-filmed-julia-haart/) Her memoir, *Brazen: My Unorthodox Journey from Long Sleeves to Lingerie*, receives a significant storyline in the series.[8](https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a37024283/my-unorthodox-life-julia-haart-book-career-interview/)\n\n## Reception\n\nCritics placed the show in the reality-docusoap tradition rather than the somber escape-narrative genre of dramas such as *Unorthodox*. Berman wrote that instead of an eye-opening docuseries it is \"a reality show in the glossy, soapy Bravo mold,\" and questioned how much of the picture viewers see given Haart's executive producer credit and the show's promotion of Elite, Batsheva's influencer career, and the memoir.[4](https://time.com/6080344/my-unorthodox-life-review/) On Rotten Tomatoes the first season holds a 38% Tomatometer from four reviews; the Jerusalem Post's reviewer wrote that \"any profound critique of the haredi world is buried in layers of reality-TV dross.\"[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/my_unorthodox_life/s01) Audience scores have been mixed: IMDb lists 5.7 out of 10.[3](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/my-unorthodox-life)\n\n## Response from Orthodox communities\n\nThe series drew substantial criticism from Orthodox Jewish writers and communities. Rabbis and community members denounced it, and Orthodox women responded with the hashtag #MyOrthodoxLife, sharing positive experiences of their communities on social media; Haart told *The New York Times* in response that \"My issues and the ways that I have been treated have nothing to do with Judaism.\"[11](https://www.timesofisrael.com/netflixs-my-unorthodox-life-spurs-orthodox-women-to-talk-about-their-lives/) • [12](https://journals.library.brandeis.edu/index.php/bjsj/issue/download/20/Full%20Journal) The Algemeiner reported that in the show Haart calls the Orthodox Jewish community \"dangerous\" and describes her youngest son's religious behavior as \"super loony,\" which critics cited as evidence of an unfair portrayal.[13](https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/07/15/orthodox-jewish-women-question-portrayal-of-community-in-netflix-series-my-unorthodox-life/)\n\nCriticism also came from ex-Orthodox writers. Dainy Bernstein, who holds a doctorate in English and writes from an ex-Orthodox perspective, argued in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the show depicts Haart's former community without appropriate context and sometimes with outright inaccuracies, and that it promotes harmful stereotypes of people who leave religious families.[14](https://www.jta.org/2021/07/20/ideas/my-ex-orthodox-life-isnt-glamorous-but-my-story-should-be-told) A Brandeis Judaic Studies journal analysis noted that the series perpetuates negative conceptions of oppression and sexism in the Orthodox community, while quoting Haart's own framing: \"It has nothing to do with Judaism or religion; this has to do with fundamentalism.\"[12](https://journals.library.brandeis.edu/index.php/bjsj/issue/download/20/Full%20Journal) The Jewish Telegraphic Agency's separate analysis observed that, unlike earlier stage and screen portrayals of ex-[Orthodoxy](https://www.edgepedia.org/orthodoxy), the show depicts a spectrum of Jewish religiosity from yeshivish Orthodox to Modern Orthodox to entirely secular, and that Haart is open about not rejecting Judaism itself.[15](https://www.jta.org/2021/08/12/ideas/my-unorthodox-life-joins-a-long-history-of-depicting-and-distorting-orthodox-jews-on-stage-and-screen)\n\n## References\n\n1. [My Unorthodox Life, Netflix Media Center](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/81175724)\n2. [My Unorthodox Life on Netflix UK, New On Netflix UK](https://uk.newonnetflix.info/info/81175724)\n3. [My Unorthodox Life, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/my-unorthodox-life)\n4. [Netflix's My Unorthodox Life Is More Bravo Docusoap Than Real-Life Unorthodox, TIME (Judy Berman, July 2021)](https://time.com/6080344/my-unorthodox-life-review/)\n5. [My Unorthodox Life: Parents' Guide & TV Review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/my-unorthodox-life)\n6. [When Was 'My Unorthodox Life' Filmed? Julia Haart Explains, Women's Health](https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a37078473/when-was-my-unorthdox-life-filmed-julia-haart/)\n7. [My Unorthodox Life: Season 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/my_unorthodox_life/s01)\n8. [Julia Haart Left Her Ultra-Orthodox Community and Became a CEO. Now She's a Reality TV Star., ELLE](https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a37024283/my-unorthodox-life-julia-haart-book-career-interview/)\n9. [Netflix's 'My Unorthodox Life': How Julia Haart escaped sect, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-07-14/netflix-my-unorthodox-life-julia-haart)\n10. [My Unorthodox Life | Official Trailer | Netflix, YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a553JOZq-4)\n11. [Netflix's 'My Unorthodox Life' spurs Orthodox women to talk about their lives, The Times of Israel](https://www.timesofisrael.com/netflixs-my-unorthodox-life-spurs-orthodox-women-to-talk-about-their-lives/)\n12. [Jewish Inequality in Popular Culture, Brandeis Judaic Studies Journal Vol. 4 (2023)](https://journals.library.brandeis.edu/index.php/bjsj/issue/download/20/Full%20Journal)\n13. [Orthodox Jewish Women Question Portrayal of Community in Netflix Series 'My Unorthodox Life', Algemeiner](https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/07/15/orthodox-jewish-women-question-portrayal-of-community-in-netflix-series-my-unorthodox-life/)\n14. [My ex-Orthodox life isn't glamorous, but my story should be told, Jewish Telegraphic Agency (Dainy Bernstein)](https://www.jta.org/2021/07/20/ideas/my-ex-orthodox-life-isnt-glamorous-but-my-story-should-be-told)\n15. ['My Unorthodox Life' joins a long history of depicting, and distorting, Orthodox Jews on stage and screen, Jewish Telegraphic Agency](https://www.jta.org/2021/08/12/ideas/my-unorthodox-life-joins-a-long-history-of-depicting-and-distorting-orthodox-jews-on-stage-and-screen)\n16. [‘My Unorthodox Life’ Season 2 Release Date, Cast, Trailer](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/my-unorthodox-life-season-2-release-date-cast-news)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Celebrity, family, lifestyle, and court reality series › Lifestyle, dating, and docusoaps › Celebrity and family docusoaps › Premiered 2019 to 2026*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/my-unorthodox-life", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/my-unorthodox-life.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"My Unorthodox Life\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/my-unorthodox-life. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[My Unorthodox Life](https://www.edgepedia.org/my-unorthodox-life)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/my-unorthodox-life](https://www.edgepedia.org/my-unorthodox-life). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"My Unorthodox Life\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/my-unorthodox-life. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "My Unorthodox Life is a Netflix reality series about Julia Haart, former ultra-Orthodox Jewish community member and Elite World Group CEO, and her four children; two seasons, 18 episodes, ended December 2022." }