Survivor Shari Franke detailed the alleged abuse she endured at the hands of her mother, disgraced momfluencer Ruby Franke, and the damaging effects of family vlogging. Amid her mother’s imprisonment, Shari recounted for the first time her childhood trauma.
Trigger warning: child abuse – Shari, the eldest of Ruby’s six children, opened up about the punishments she was subjected to, which evolved into “grand gestures and prolonged periods of deprivation.”
By the time she left for college at Brigham Young University, in Utah, Shari had become incredibly concerned for the safety of her siblings who remained in her parents’ house.
Ruby, a controversial parenting influencer, and her therapist, Jodi Hildebrandt, were sentenced in 2024 to up to 15 years in prison for child abuse after the escape of Ruby’s malnourished 12-year-old son exposed to years of mistreatment.
Survivor Shari Franke detailed the alleged abuse she endured at the hands of her mother, disgraced momfluencer Ruby Franke
Shari had reportedly called the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, though no further action was taken after a welfare check, People reported on January 4.
“When I was younger, around, like, five-six, Ruby was really physical,” Shari told Good Morning America on Tuesday (January 7).
“Whether it was like a slap to the lip or– a slap to the cheek…when I would practice the piano, her hand would slam and it was really scary,” the eldest daughter added.
Ruby rose to fame on YouTube by sharing her family life in Utah and offering parenting advice, some of it controversial.
Shari has since opened up about her traumatizing upbringing, telling People: “I’ve witnessed the damage of what happens when your life is put online.
“There’s no ethical way to do it.”
The 21-year-old has recounted her disturbing experience living with her abusive momfluencer in her newly released memoir The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom.
Ruby and her husband, Kevin, became famous in 2015 with their YouTube channel, 8Passengers, which shared their family’s daily life and gained 2.5 million subscribers.
Shari also opened up about the damaging effects of family vlogging
However, viewers started to become suspicious in 2020, when one of the couple’s sons mentioned that he had been forced to sleep on a beanbag for seven months, BBC reported in February 2024.
Netizens subsequently combed through Ruby’s archives and pointed out other disturbing and controversial methods used by the YouTuber – such as withholding food, threatening to chop the head off a toy stuffed animal, and “canceling” Christmas as a punishment.
In her book, Shari said that Ruby “was never warm or kind” as a mother, but she initially viewed her mom’s bribery to share private moments on-camera as “a fair trade-off.”
As she got older, however, she became uncomfortable with some of the content.
“I was 18, and we went bra shopping, and she was filming it,” Shari said. “I was like, ‘This is kind of weird and inappropriate.’”
Followers of the YouTube channel also began criticizing Ruby’s questionable behavior in the videos by 2020, which drove Ruby “deeper in delusion,” Shari wrote.
In the book, Shari reportedly also wrote about messages she said she found on Ruby’s laptop after their arrests, writing of the messages: “Ruby, expressing her frustration about having to cater to Jodi’s needs for physical affection without getting anything in return.”
In 2018, Ruby connected with Jodi Hilderbrandt, a former sex therapist and founder of the religious social media network ConneXions, People reported.
Amid her mother’s imprisonment, Shari recounted for the first time her childhood trauma
Jodi reportedly became the family’s therapist and advocated for extreme parental discipline within the home.
Not long after, Shari was disowned by Ruby, who also asked Kevin and their son Chad to move out of the house, as per People.
“I certainly got weird vibes from Jodi and Ruby,” Shari told Good Morning America, adding that her mom was “secretive” about the relationship with Jodi.
She said: “I don’t think it’s normal at all that a therapist would move in to your client’s home.
“I was moving out to college, I hadn’t even left the house yet, and she is in my room and in my bed.”
In 2023, during her junior year at college, Shari reportedly received a call from a neighbor, who told her that police had surrounded her mother’s Springville, Utah, home.
Ruby and Jodi were subsequently arrested after Shari’s 12-year-old brother, Russell, asked a neighbor to call the police after he escaped from Jodi’s home in Ivins, Utah, through the window.
Russell was reportedly malnourished and had restraint marks and wounds on his wrists, as well as duct tape on his ankles.
His sister Eve, 10, was also found malnourished in the home, People reported.
Shari recalled: “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.”
Ruby and her therapist, Jodi Hildebrandt, were sentenced in 2024 to up to 15 years in prison for child abuse
Both Ruby and Jodi pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse in 2023 against two of Ruby’s children, but not Shari, according to Good Morning America.
The women were consequently sentenced to four consecutive sentences of one to 15 years in prison.
Before her sentencing in February, Ruby tearfully spoke in court, saying: “For the past four years, I’ve chosen to follow counsel and guidance that has led me into a dark delusion.
“My distorted version of reality went largely unchecked as I would isolate from anyone who challenged me.”
She continued: “I was led to believe that this world was an evil place filled with cops who control, hospitals that injure, government agencies that brainwash, church leaders who lie and lust, husbands who refuse to protect, and children who need abuse.
“Jodi Hildebrandt was never my business partner, nor was I ever employed by her. I have never received wages from her or connections.
“Jodi was employed as my son’s counselor, in 2019, and in 2020, I paid her to be my mentor.
“It is important to me to demonstrate my remorse and regret without blame.
“I take full accountability for my choices, and it is my preference that I serve a prison sentence.”
Ruby and her husband, Kevin, became famous in 2015 with their YouTube channel, 8Passengers
Now, Shari says she believes her mom cannot “fully comprehend the guilt” of what she pleaded guilty to.
She told Good Morning America: “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.”
Father Kevin has since told ABC News in a statement that he is “incredibly proud” of his daughter.
He expressed: “I am incredibly proud of Shari for the woman she has become and for her strength.
“She has played and will continue to play a crucial role in the healing of our family.
“I am grateful for her example and learn a lot from her vulnerability and courage. She has a powerful voice and will make a positive impact in this world. I love my daughter.”
“Such a heartbreaking situation,” a reader commented
