I’m a gypsy wife who washes her ceilings every week… trolls call me a slave & say I put dog hair and TOE NAILS in food

WHEN Megan Smith posted a TikTok video making a traditional ‘gypsy bacon pudding’ for her husband, she was quickly flooded with comments. Within minutes, cruel trolls were calling her a slave and saying that there was probably ‘dog hair and toenail clippings’ in the food. Megan Smith got engaged as a teenager and is now a stay-at-home mum-of-one. She gets trolled for her lifestyle on TikTok, but feels that wouldn’t be the case if she wasn’t a traveller Credit: Supplied Megan, 24, pictured with her husband JimmyDean, 25, and her six-month-old son, who’s also called JimmyDean Credit: Supplied When Megan got engaged aged 18, her dad insisted on a two-year engagement before they tied the knot Credit: Supplied While many of the 2.3 million viewers said the savoury roly poly unlocked childhood memories with their nans, some objected, calling her a name that left her fuming. “I had one comment saying: ‘Why do traveller women get married so young just to become a slave to their husband?’” says the 24-year-old mum of one. Sign up for the Fabulous newsletter Thank you! “It made me so angry. People think my husband ‘makes me clean’ for him, but this is the life I’ve always wanted – to be a homemaker and the best mummy I can. “I wish people didn’t tar us all with the same brush. It seems only travellers face these old stereotypes.” Interest in the notoriously private community has boomed recently. The star of Channel 4’s Secret Lives of Gypsy Wives, Trewley Precious Sunshine Temple Wass, claims to be Britain’s answer to the Kardashians, while Tyson Fury’s daughter Venezuela now has 1.4 million followers on TikTok, despite being just 16 years old. Megan, who lives in Watford, says: “When people see a stay-at-home mum that’s not a traveller making a meal or cleaning on social media, everyone’s like: ‘You go girl’. “But when it’s a traveller girl doing the same things, they say: ‘Why did you get married? You’re a slave to your husband’. “I’m blessed to have a husband that loves me and I’m happy. If I wasn’t married, I’d be doing all these same things in my family home.” Most read in Fabulous Like Venezuela, Megan got engaged to now-husband JimmyDean, 25, as a teenager, although her dad insisted they wait before tying the knot. The pair met when they were both 17, but Megan wasn’t allowed to post any pictures of him on Facebook until her dad gave his permission for them to date two months later. She says: “JimmyDean proposed on Christmas Day 2020, but we had a long engagement because my dad said: ‘You can get married, but you have to wait two years’. “I was still only 18 at the time. I’m my dad’s firstborn and I don’t think he was ready to let me go yet.” The couple got married on Bonfire Night 2022, two weeks before Megan turned 21. Although JimmyDean bought a two-bed luxury mobile home, they lived separately with their families until they tied the knot, in keeping with their traditional values. As JimmyDean is the only one working at the moment, the cleaning and childcare of their six-month-old son, also called JimmyDean, falls to Megan. And she’s more than happy with the arrangement. Megan says: “People ask me: ‘What motivates you to clean?’ If I don’t do it, it doesn’t get done. My mum and sister helped me clean when I was pregnant, but I would rather do it myself. “A lot of travellers live in beautiful houses, but I always wanted to live in a chalet as it’s easier to clean every surface. “You can’t really wash painted walls down, whereas in my home I can wash the ceiling and everything.” Megan cleans every day for at least an hour, then once a week she’ll do her deep clean. She says: “I think the stereotype is that travellers are dirty. People always say ‘dirty travellers, dirty gypsies’. “I had a comment on one of my cooking videos saying: ‘Oh, gypsy pudding, there’s probably dog hair and toenail clippings in that’. “So I think that is what pushes a lot of travellers to be so clean, because of the stereotype that we’re dirty. “But people on Instagram also tell me to ‘get a life’ for cleaning so much.” Megan feels a lot of the misinformation comes from shows like Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, which “don’t show the full story”. Megan doesn’t know exactly how much her impressive wedding dress weighed – but it did leave her with bruises Credit: Supplied She says she wouldn’t change a thing about her gown four years on from her big day Credit: Supplied Megan says travellers still face discrimination – often when applying to jobs or booking a table in a restaurant Credit: Supplied However, Megan’s own wedding dress would have fit nicely with the 10-stone gowns televised. “I had quite a big, heavy dress,” she says. “I had to wear a petticoat underneath, like a cage. It left me with bruises, actually. On my honeymoon, I had a bruise on my hip and on my waist, but it was worth it because even four years later, I still love my dress and wouldn’t change it.” Megan says discrimination against travellers is still rife. “People think traveller women can’t have a job,” she says. “But I was a salon apprentice, then worked in Superdrug from 17 and became a team leader. “I didn’t tell them I was a traveller, but they found out and, thank God, they didn’t care. “Whenever I apply for jobs, I always put on my fake, posh voice so people can’t tell I’m a traveller, in case they won’t have me. “And if I ring up to book a table in a restaurant, I try to mask my normal voice, because otherwise they’ll say: ‘We don’t have any tables’ or ‘Can you pay before you have your food?’ “You know why they’re doing it, but it’s annoying. We’ve never run away and not paid.” At school, Megan became friends with people outside her community, but was never allowed to go round to anybody’s house, or to house parties. “My parents worried they would influence me – drinking, smoking, vaping, swearing,” she says. “I’ve never done any of that, even now.” Megan says ‘this is the life I’ve always wanted – to be a homemaker and the best mummy I can’ Credit: Supplied Megan dreams of having four or five kids, and says she may well go back to work afterwards Credit: Supplied Megan started posting daily on TikTok in March this year, quickly racking up 89,000 followers. Her biggest video to date, titled “foods I make my husband as a gypsy wife”, has had a staggering 2.9 million views. She says: “I post a lot of videos of me cleaning and cooking, although it’s faff to film with a baby. “I’ve been on the Creator Fund for three months and I’ve made a couple of hundred pounds, which I put away for my baby. It’s his pocket money, not for me to get my nails done or anything like that.” Megan describes her son as a “blessing”, having previously struggled to conceive while battling PMOS (Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome, previously known as Polycystic Ovary Syndrome). One night, she woke to the “worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life” and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, where she was treated for a burst haemorrhagic (blood-filled) ovarian cyst. Although traumatic at the time, Megan hasn’t grown any cysts since and fell pregnant with JimmyDean a month after being given the all-clear by her doctor. She says: “I’d like four or five kids, although my husband always says three. “I might go back to work when my kids are a bit older. At the moment, all my attention is on the baby. He’s my most important thing.” Although Megan is a fan of At Home With The Furys, she understands the shocked reaction to Venezuela’s engagement on her 16th birthday. “If her dad or her mum thought she was making the wrong decision, I’m sure they would advise her not to do that,” she says. “I know my parents would.” While the Gypsy King is beloved, Trewley Rose’s Secret Lives of Gypsy Wives has sparked a backlash. Megan says: “People are annoyed by what she’s saying about travellers and gypsies. I don’t blame her for doing the show – she’s got paid for it and she’s happy. But her life is different to how I was brought up.” You can follow Megan on TikTok @_meganrosesmithx