Parenting influencer Ruby Franke's daughter details the one video which 'burned down' their channel overnight
In her new bombshell memoir, Shari Franke - daughter of jailed influencer and child abuser Ruby Franke - has detailed the one YouTube video that hastened her mother's downfall.
Looking back at the physical and emotional turmoil that her five younger siblings endured at the hands of their mother, the 22-year-old author recalled the one incident which resulted in a visit from the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, and eventually, Ruby's arrest.
Last year, devout Mormon social media influencer Ruby was handed four consecutive one to 15-year sentences for second-degree aggravated child abuse.
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The mother-of-six confessed in her plea agreement that she'd physically and mentally hurt her two youngest children, telling them they were 'evil and possessed'.
Ruby also admitted to having denied her children both food and water on several occasions, and handcuffed her son's wrists and ankles and held him underwater on another.
She and a strict parental discipline-advocating therapist named Jodi Hildebrandt - who hosted a podcast together - received equal punishments for their part in the harrowing crimes.
Since her mother's sentencing, Shari Franke - the eldest of Ruby's six children - has written a memoir about her experiences at home titled The House of My Mother, A Daughter's Quest for Freedom.
Writing in her book, Shari recently recalled that one YouTube upload was deemed so heartbreaking by viewers that is prompted a deeper investigation by authorities, which ultimately resulted in mum Ruby being arrested.
The vlog was posted in 2020, and heard Shari's youngster brother Chad telling viewers he'd been forced to go to bed on a bean bag for the last seven months, after losing 'his bedroom privileges'.
In the video that was subsequently deleted, Chad revealed the bean bag had been used as punishment after his mother caught him pulling pranks on his brother Russell.
The clip sparked widespread backlash, with many YouTube newbies accusing Ruby of abusing her children and hundreds of formerly loyal fans to unsubscribe from her channel.
Looking back at the video, Shari has since written in her memoir: "Ruby saw nothing unusual about this - Chad acted like he didn't care. It was a masterclass of emotional suppression, a skill we'd all been forced to perfect.
"When he let slip during filming what his current sleeping arrangements were, he did it so cooly I doubt Ruby really even noticed.
"But Ruby's new editor did, and he made Chad's new revelation the focus of the video, misguidedly thinking it would be interesting content."
The vlog was so controversial that it prompted 18,000 people to sign a Charge.org petition, which called for the Utah Division of Child and Family Services to check on the children's wellbeing.
"When it was suggested she should take the video down to avoid losing subscribers, Ruby snapped back 'No, Jodi says we need to stand firm in our truth, we can't let the haters win'," Shari wrote.
"That one video burned down the 8 Passengers YouTube channel overnight and cost our family 90% of our income."
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, 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.
The 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.
Rhianna Benson