Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing
The daughter of convicted child abuser and former YouTuber Ruby Franke has spoken out about her main ‘priority’ after finding out about her mother’s arrest.
Franke was behind the parenting YouTube channel ‘8 Passengers’ with husband Kevin, amassing a large following behind her family-driven content.
But last year, the 42-year-old pleaded guilty to multiple counts of aggravated child abuse and was sent to prison, along with business partner Jodi Hildebrandt.
They were given four consecutive prison sentences of one to 15 years in February 2024.
Shari Franke is Franke’s eldest child, and has now spoken out about her mother’s arrest for the first time to ABC and Good Morning America.
Last year, police were called to Franke’s house after her 12-year-old son escaped from Hildebrandt’s house in Utah to ask a neighbour for food and water.
Covered in marks and lacerations, the sight of the malnourished boy caused the man who answered the door to him to call the authorities, and arrests followed.
Shari revealed that she had ‘been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this’, as she suffered several abusive punishments while growing up.
She also opened up on how uncomfortable it felt to be filmed constantly during her childhood, recalling: “I was 18, and we went bra shopping, and she was filming it. I was like, ‘This is kind of weird and inappropriate’.”
Shari has released a new book, The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom, which details the allegations of abuse made against her mum, as she tells her side of the story and her experience growing up in the Franke house.
Speaking to PEOPLE magazine, Shari recalls what her shocking ‘priority’ was as an older sister following her mother’s arrest.
She explained: “My biggest priority was just making sure that the kids were alive. As long as they were alive, obviously then I knew eventually things would be okay,” she said of her siblings.
After Ruby connected with former sex therapist turned religious social media network founder Jodi Hilderbrandt back in 2018, the latter started to push for ‘extreme parental discipline’ in the Franke home.
Soon after, Shari was disowned by Franke, who went on to ask husband Kevin and son Chad to move out.
Shari explained that her mother’s punishments became ‘grand gestures and prolonged periods of deprivation,’ as she became more worried for the safety of her siblings when she left for college.
In her memoir, she recalled her mother saying: “‘They’re old enough to take care of themselves. This is about you, Shari. Your jealousy, your need for attention’.”
After calling the Utah Division of Child and Family Services for help, they took no further action after carrying out a welfare check.
Talking about how her mother may feel, Shari said: “I think that she’s as sorry as she can be. What she has done is so bad that I don’t think her mind allows her to kind of fully comprehend the guilt of all that. And so I think that she probably genuinely believed everything she said. I don’t believe it though.”
She is now focused on rebuilding her relationships with her father and siblings.
Full timeline of the Ruby Franke case
Starting a YouTube channel and initial suspicions
Franke started her parenting YouTube channel 8 Passengers with now ex-husband Kevin in 2015, amassing over 2.5 million subscribers before it was deleted in 2023 following the arrest.
Several subscribers became suspicious of child abuse, with a petition being signed for the police to investigate the family, citing the numerous questionable videos uploaded.
Franke joins ConneXions with Jodi Hildebrandt
The mum told critics in a 2021 interview for The Wrap that she was showing everyone ‘what a responsible mother looks like’.
She stopped uploading videos to the channel in 2022, joining Mormon therapist Hildebrandt’s ConneXions podcast. Their divisive opinions on subjects such as eating disorders, blaming rape victims, and criticising immigrants drew the wrong kind of attention.
Franke and Hildebrandt’s arrest
Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested on child abuse charges in August 2023.
The Santa Clara Public Safety Department were called to the Ivins neighbourhood in Utah after a neighbour was alerted by Franke’s ’emaciated’ 12-year-old son, who escaped to knock on their door to ask for help.
He had visible marks and wounds from duct tape put around his ankles, and asked for some food and water. Police found his 10-year-old sister in a ‘similar physical condition of malnourishment’ in Hildebrandt’s house.
Family members speak out
Franke’s oldest daughter, Shari, wrote on Instagram on the day of the arrests: “Today has been a big day.”
She continued: “Me and my family are so glad justice is being served. We’ve been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.”
In November, Kevin also officially filed for divorce from Franke, and called her actions to their children ‘horrific and inhumane’.
Franke and Hildebrandt are charged with six counts of child abuse
Just one week after their arrests, the pair were charged with six counts of felony child abuse.
YouTube banned Franke, deleting both 8 Passengers and ConneXions channels and blocking her from the social media platform.
Franke blames the abuse on Hildebrandt
Her attorneys released a statement that said: “Initially, Ms. Franke believed that Jodi Hildebrandt had the insight to offer a path to continual improvement. Ms. Hildebrandt took advantage of this quest and twisted it into something heinous,” according to Fox13.
It blamed Hildebrandt solely for isolating Franke from her family completely, distorting her morality.
Franke pleads guilty
Just three days after the statement was released, Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. A court had heard how she had tried to convince her youngest children they were ‘evil and possessed’.
Franke and Hildebrandt are sentenced to prison for child abuse
On 20 February 2024, Franke and Hildebrandt were convicted and given four separate prison sentences for one to 15 years, with the length of each sentence decided by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.
During sentencing Franke apologised to her children and said she would ‘never stop crying for hurting their tender souls’.
She said: “My willingness to sacrifice all for you was masterfully manipulated into something very ugly. I took from you all that was soft and safe and good.”
The two women will not serve more than 30 years in a Federal Penitentiary because of a Utah law about consecutive sentences.
Additional words by Anish Vij.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.
