A mum has revealed what it was like to grow up in a strict Amish family which banned make up and TV - and why she left and never returned.

Naomi Swartzentruber, 43, said she was expected to wake up at 5am and help on the farm from the age of five.

She left school at 14 - to cook, clean and help with chores full-time.

In her teens, she began to rebel in "small" ways like wearing lingerie under her gowns, listening to the radio through her neighbours’ window and secretly dating non-Amish boys."



But at 17, she met a man who offered to let her stay with him - so she ran away and hasn’t been back since - and visits her family yearly.

Naomi, an author from Coolidge, Arizona, said: "I started feeling really rebellious - I decided I wanted to get a job, find an English boy, and wear whatever I want. "

"When I was younger, I started wanting cars and radios and bikes - but our very strict rules forbid them. "

"I started noticing all the things my neighbours had that we couldn’t - at the time, I was told I’d go to hell for watching TV."

The Amish value simple living - and ban lots of elements of modern life, like technology, fashion, and vehicles.

Anyone who isn’t within the Amish community is referred to as ‘English’, Naomi said.

Naomi says she was born into the strictest Amish branch - and her childhood was simple and happy.

From the age of five, she was expected to help with the farming and the housework.

Living on a farm in Michigan, with 12 kids, she’d wake up at 5am to feed the chickens, cook the day’s meals, work in the garden and clean the house.

She said: "We’d get up at dawn and work all day until the sun went down."

"Women would be expected to do the cooking, cleaning and washing the clothes - while men would do all the farming."

"There wasn’t much time for play - and we had to dress modestly. When I asked my parents why we had to dress and work, they said it was ‘just our way". "

Naomi went to school until she was 14 years old - after which, she was expected to cook and clean full-time, she said.

A year later, she started to branch out by going to ‘English’ yard sales near the farm.

There, she started to sneakily buy modern clothing like t-shirts and shorts, as well as "dollar store" lingerie, and would wear them underneath her church dress. "

Her brother was also given a radio by their cousins, and they secretly used to listen to it back at the farm.

She said: "The first time I heard modern music - it was ‘Pickup Man’ by Joe Diffie. "

"It made my world go round."

"We’d sneak over to the neighbours’ window to watch movies, too."

"By 16, I knew I wanted to run away."

Naomi met an ‘English’ man, who was 33 at the time, while she was out picking strawberries.

"I blurted out that I wanted to run away and live with him," she added. "He told me I was crazy - but he’d come back in a week and let me know. "

"Sure enough, a week later he came back and said I could live with his elderly mum if I helped to look after her."

On July 13 1997, Naomi ran away to live with the elderly woman, and decided to get a job as soon as she could.

She started working at a local Burger King, earning $7.43 per hour - and saved up to learn how to drive.

After two months of living with the elderly woman, Naomi moved again to lodge with the man who found her, his wife and their son.

They held her an 18th birthday party with food, decorations and presents - which are all banned in Amish communities.

She said: "I felt like a child, we had hamburgers and hot dogs, cake and ice cream - it was amazing, I felt so special. "

"The Amish didn’t celebrate birthdays and occasions like we do - in my day they’d only acknowledge our birthdays by saying ‘happy birthday’ - and we’d get an ear tug for each year we'd been alive."

"Christmas would often be a normal day, except we might get gifts like a colouring book, socks, or a dish."

"My first Christmas outside the family was amazing - I was fascinated by all the lights and the trees. "

"I got a lot of clothes and a Pikachu blanket - which I still have now."

In 26 years outside of the Amish community, Naomi has experimented with different styles and ways of life.

She says she used to dress in "very skimpy clothing" - and had a stint as a stripper. "

"I went through a phase of dressing very risqué," she said. "I rebelled, getting back at my Amish roots."

"I’d wear short skirts, crop tops, big pink platform boots and fishnets."

"I had rough patches - I used to pole dance and worked as a stripper in various clubs."

"But the whole time, I knew I wanted to do something like train as an accountant."

In June 2020, after working odd jobs since she left the Amish, Naomi settled into life as a full-time mum, caring for daughter Stormy, two, with partner Nick Bauer, 33.

She also became an author, and wrote an erotic memoir about her life in the Amish as well as her career as a stripper.

"Life is so nice," she said. "I’m in a lovely supportive relationship with Nick, and I’m a full-time mum. "

"I’ve retained some of my Amish lifestyle - sometimes I like to wear my old dress and cap, to remember my roots. "

"But nowadays, I couldn’t be more non-Amish. I like sweaters, tights and summer dresses. "

"I’d say this is the greatest chapter in my life, so far."