Jill Wagner Tennessee Farm Life: Why the Lioness Star Left Hollywood Behind

Not every star chases a bigger stage. Some build a farm instead. And for Jill Wagner, that farm sits on 200 acres of Tennessee countryside — far removed from Hollywood casting calls, awards season traffic, and the relentless noise of industry life.

The timing of her story landing in the news cycle is not accidental. With Special Ops: Lioness Season 3 premiering on Paramount+ on August 2, 2026, Wagner is suddenly one of the most talked-about women on television — playing Bobby, the hard-edged leader of an elite CIA Quick Reaction Force alongside Zoe Saldana and Nicole Kidman. But away from set, the real story is the one playing out on Jill Wagner Tennessee farm life at Scott Mansion Farm.

It is a story about deliberately choosing roots over spotlight — and why it is working.

On a hillside in Tellico Plains, Tennessee, Jill Wagner and David Lemanowicz purchased a historic property in 2016 that would become the centre of their lives: Scott Mansion Farm, a 200-acre estate that the couple spent years restoring from near-derelict condition into a fully functioning farm.

Why Did Jill Wagner Choose Tennessee Over Los Angeles?

Wagner has been consistent in her answer. She grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, raised by her father — a U.S. Marine — and her grandmother. Small-town life was not a lifestyle she discovered; it was the one she left, and eventually returned to. Per Movieguide, she has described the Tennessee farm as the environment she wanted her daughters to experience the same kind of childhood she had.

She and Lemanowicz have two daughters: Army Gray, born in 2020, and Daisy Roberta, born in 2021. Lemanowicz also has a daughter from a previous relationship. All three children are being raised on the farm, where daily life involves tending gardens, handling property maintenance, and operating a working agricultural estate.

What Does the Family Do With the Farm?

Scott Mansion Farm is not simply a private residence. Wagner and Lemanowicz open the property to the public for special events and fundraisers, including the annual Patriotic Pick, a charitable initiative supporting the Special Operations Warrior Foundation — an organization providing educational grants to children of fallen special operations soldiers. The choice of charity is not incidental: Lemanowicz served in the U.S. Army Reserve.

The career contrast is part of what makes Wagner’s story compelling. She hosts morning gardening sessions on a Tennessee farm and then flies to set to play Bobby — a fictional CIA operative who runs covert operations with lethal efficiency. Season 3 of Special Ops: Lioness premiered on Paramount+ on August 2, 2026, featuring Wagner in a central role she also executive produces.

Before Lioness, Wagner built her career across three distinct phases: as a television personality hosting ABC’s Wipeout for seven seasons (2008-2014), as a genre actress with roles in Blade: The Series (2006) and MTV’s Teen Wolf (2011-2017), and as a Hallmark Channel staple who became one of the network’s most trusted leading ladies. She credits her grandmother with encouraging her to pursue Hallmark — a creative decision that proved both commercially successful and personally meaningful.

Getting an executive producer credit on Lioness represents a significant career evolution. It is one thing to act in a prestige series. It is another to have creative ownership over it.

The celebrity farm life narrative is well-worn territory. What separates Wagner’s version is specificity and longevity. She did not rent a vacation property in the countryside and call it a lifestyle pivot. She bought a deteriorating 200-acre historic estate in rural Tennessee in 2016, spent years restoring it, turned it into a working farm, and now opens it to raise money for military families. This has been her actual life for nearly a decade.

The timing of the Lioness Season 3 premiere sharpening the spotlight on her is worth noting. Wagner is now, arguably, at the most visible point of her career. And rather than leaning into industry events or Los Angeles press cycles, her profile moment is about a farm in Tellico Plains. That is a deliberate brand choice — and a smart one. Audiences in 2026 are hungry for celebrities who appear to have actual lives outside the camera.

Wagner has something most television stars do not: a parallel story that is genuinely more interesting than the show she is promoting.

Full Name: Jill Suzanne Wagner

Date of Birth: January 13, 1979 | Age: years old

Nationality: American

Husband: David Lemanowicz (married 2017) — former pro hockey player and U.S. Army Reserve officer

Children: Army Gray (born 2020), Daisy Roberta (born 2021), plus one stepdaughter

Net Worth: $3M–$5M (est., per industry benchmarks)

Home: Scott Mansion Farm, Tellico Plains, Tennessee (200 acres, purchased 2016)

Wagner’s current role as Bobby on Special Ops: Lioness (Paramount+), where she also serves as executive producer, is the most career-defining work of her television career. Season 3 premiered August 2, 2026.