Tomi Lahren Off-Air
Interview by Caroline Downey
Photography by Andrea Hanks
Styling by Jayme Chandler Franklin
While Tomi Lahren is famous for her fiery Fox News appearances, The Conservateur reveals how she’s more than just a political pundit. Lahren wears a Veronica Beard pantsuit.
It’s a Wednesday afternoon in Nashville, when Tomi Lahren walks out of the saloon she uses as a studio for her Outkick show, “Tomi Lahren is Fearless.” We’re driving to The Graduate, a maximalist Dolly Parton-themed hotel that feels like a southern Barbie dream house.
Lahren wears a pop pink tweed dress, nude platform pumps, and her signature blonde blowout. Her makeup, including a smokey eye, glossy lip, and retro eyeliner, is perfectly airbrushed. I furiously type notes on my phone as she details her beauty routine. Contour is key. Microblading. Hairspray. Vitamin C serum.
After filming her Outkick Show, Lahren joined us at the Graduate hotel in a Maje dress.
As we visit different sites throughout the day, it’s clear Lahren is comfortable in this town.
“It’s the favorite place I’ve lived,” she says. “I love this state. I love this city. The south has our conservative values, but we’re in a city that’s filled with vibrance, music, and diversity. I know it’s become a dirty word, but I appreciate diversity. I don’t like where everybody’s the same.”
Next, we head to Broadway, a street crawling with country music lovers and bachelorette parties. Like many metro areas, Nashville has a progressive bent, but it won’t judge you for old American values like, say, patriotism and faith.
Lahren captured everyone’s attention on Broadway wearing the iconic Ralph Lauren flag sweater, Levi jean shorts, and The Conservateur x Dixon cowboy boots.
We are in relatively friendly territory, yet Lahren still moves with an air of invincibility, a trait she’s developed over many years of flying close to the sun. Her style, which she says switches between risk-taking power outfits and casual tee-shirt-and-shorts getups, reflects her boldness and nonchalance toward critics.
Conservatives are often too timid about their convictions and worried about ruffling feathers, she notes, hence her newest book title, Never Play Dead. “Why are you so afraid of offending people who have zero problem offending you?” she says. “I have never met a liberal who is worried about offending a conservative.”
Lahren, who says she’s been opinionated since she was young, does not self-censor. There’s no need to come out as conservative — she wears her politics on her sleeve.
“It’s like riding a bicycle,” she says. “Once you become unapologetically you, that becomes your habit and you do it without thinking.”
Lahren’s style reflects her “unapologetically” bold personality and political takes. Lahren wears a Zara pantsuit.
Despite her politics, Lahren attracts more than just people who agree with her.
“All of my best friends I have now, I’ve met later in life since I’ve had this career and that’s worked to my advantage,” she says. “Not all my friends are conservatives, Trump supporters, or vote Republican. I don’t mind that they have different political beliefs than me. We respect each other.”
She also applied this philosophy of projecting authenticity to dating, which led her to her now husband, former MLB catcher J.P. Arencibia, who she wed seven months ago. If Lahren had gotten married at 21, 25, or 28 years old, she would have been with the wrong people, she says.
“For me, it took a little bit longer,” she says.
Lahren says she is her spouse’s biggest fan on and off the field, where he serves as bench coach for a minor league team affiliated with the New York Mets. She catches him in Syracuse as often as she can. Arencibia is also her biggest cheerleader behind the camera, as well as a worthy opponent in light-hearted political debate.
“JP isn’t intimidated by my success,” she says. “He supports me in everything I do. When I shine brighter, he cheers for that, and I’ve been in relationships where that’s not always the case. There’s been jealousy. It’s a matter of finding somebody who adds to you, not who is threatened by your motivation and relentless pursuit of your goals.”
When she’s off-air, her style switches from pantsuits and pumps to button downs and denim. Lahren wears a Zara poplin button-down.
In 2020, Lahren broke the internet with an Instagram live she hosted titled, “PSA to Boyish Men.” In the video, she alleged she and her friends — all bright, beautiful, driven women — had romantically engaged with many “boys” who had mistreated them. Many conservatives accused her of tipping her hat to modern feminists’ misandry by addressing the bad behavior of immature men.
“This is going to be the summer of canceling boys,” she said. “If all of these women, including myself, are having issues, then I have to think it might not be us.”
In terms of male quality, Lahren says that they just don’t make ‘em like they used to. But she rejects the idea that women’s empowerment is to blame for men’s diminished state.
“The key is women understanding that things are different now,” she explains. “We made them different, and men have responded. Women have come into their own. We are powerful and we have careers and we’re tenacious and we’re dedicated, and I think men are not used to that. They’re not able to deal with a strong woman because a lot of young men are not raised as strong young men so they’re very confused by strong women.”
Lahren represents a new generation of powerful women who have “come into their own.”
In the viral video, Lahren lamented the fact that the dating pool is now saturated with both low-class “thotianas” and their male equivalents, making it harder for the good ones to find each other. Many just give up in exasperation.
Many conservatives complain that corporate culture has made women aggressive and domineering like men. Some argue it’s been detrimental to dating, where men liked to lead and, until recently, women liked to follow.
But Lahren says it’s less about who’s playing alpha and beta and more about finding a match for your energy and aspirations. As the saying goes, “you’ll never be too much for the person who can’t get enough of you.”
“It’s hard to find men, and you know what, I’m not going to lie and say the pickings aren’t slim,” she says. “But for women to soften themselves and dim their light because men find it intimidating, I disagree with that wholeheartedly.”
Lahren has mastered her makeup routine, from contouring to Vitamin C, for camera-ready complexion.
I ask her if she hopes to be a part of the change in raising a stronger future generation.
“That’s always on the horizon, not sure at what point, but it’s part of the plan,” she says. “I have a lot of friends having kids and they’re just terrified of the way the world has become, but I see it as an opportunity. That’s something I look forward to at some point in my life.”
Hailing from the heartland, Lahren is a voice for “forgotten Americans” who are overlooked by the media.
Born and raised in South Dakota to parents from ranching families, Lahren says she doesn’t see herself living there again. But that state, and its hard-working blue- collar citizens, long dismissed by coastal elites as “flyover country,” inspired her to do what she does.
“Nobody really cares about the people where I’m from,” she says. “Being able to be a voice for those kinds of people, to speak plainly, but in a way that is genuine, and exemplifies what I believe is the heart of this country — the forgotten Americans — that’s always been important to me and it’s something that I try to do each and every day.”
Nashville’s newest “it” girl, Lahren loves her city’s “conservative values, vibrance, music, and diversity.”
Caroline Downey is editor in chief of The Conservateur and education reporter at National Review. She can be found on Twitter @carolinedowney_.
Andrea Hanks is a former model and Fashion Week-turned-Trump White House photographer best known for capturing First Lady Melania Trump’s exquisite style. She can be found on Instagram @ahanksphoto.
Jayme Chandler Franklin is the Founder & CEO of The Conservateur. She previously worked for the Trump White House, the Trump Campaign, and Fox News. She can be found on Twitter @jaymechandler16.
