This Was Ree Drummond's Childhood Obsession

How many little girls are right now penning letters to Santa asking for their one cherished wish: A pony? Many a petite princess has been bitten by the "horse" bug, and dreams of all things equine can quickly turn into childhood obsession. Horses, and the "country" life, can mold the aspirations of children who dream of marrying a cowboy, and spending their lives with large animals on expansive lands.

Ree Drummond is certainly living that dream, though she admittedly did not consider herself a country girl growing up. She thought of herself as more a city girl, and, having grown up in an affluent Oklahoma suburb, ditched the Okie state upon graduation from high school and headed off to study in, of all places, Los Angeles. She really enjoyed life in the City of Angels, and had plans of continuing her cosmopolitan existence when life threw her a big fat curveball in the form of Ladd Drummond. It was such a dramatic turn for her that, upon telling her friends that she was moving to the country and marrying a cowboy, they "busted a gut laughing," attaching to her the Pioneer Woman moniker, meant in jest, that has become her calling card.

So, if horses and country chores didn't occupy the daydreams of this now-famous cooking show host, what did? Ballet.

Yep, Ree Drummond's childhood obsession was ballet. According to an interview she did with Cowboys and Indians, a lifestyle guru was not something she ever even entertained the notion of becoming. "I was a ballet nut," she says, "so that was my interest and my discipline." And her heart was not wrapped around dreams of a studly cowboy, it belonged to Mikhail Baryshnikov. Go figure.

According to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, into which she was inducted in 2018, Ree began ballet lessons at the age of four, and continued through high school. By sixth grade, per Closer Weekly, she was a member of her city's ballet company, and was performing in their '"Nutcracker" productions. She got to travel with the company, and those travels for ballet competitions gave her the opportunity to see the world, according to The List. Seeing the world, living in the big city, becoming a broadcast journalist, these were the plans of the woman who gave it all up and embarked on the country experience with the love of her life, who happened to be a real, bonafide cowboy. And this city girl who turned country says that the irony in all of this is that, despite her big dreams, plans, and thirst, for city life, she didn't really know herself until she moved to the middle of nowhere. Funny how roads not travelled in your dreams can lead you to the life you were meant to live, isn't it?