The daughter of parenting influencer Ruby Franke has opened up about her abusive upbringing following her mother’s sentencing last year.
A devout Mormon, Ruby, 42, admitted in a plea agreement to abusing her two youngest children, telling them they were ‘evil and possessed’. She was arrested after her 'emaciated' 12-year-old son escaped through a window and asked neighbours for food and water.
Ruby is now behind bars after being handed four consecutive one to 15-year sentences for second-degree aggravated child abuse.
Shari, the eldest of Ruby's six children, is now speaking out in a new memoir about her experiences, titled The House of My Mother, A Daughter's Quest for Freedom.
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Promoting the new book in an interview on Good Morning America, Shari said she believes her mum cannot ‘fully comprehend the guilt’ of the crimes she admitted to, explaining: "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."
Shari said her mother had been ‘really physical’ when she was younger, whether it was a ‘slap to the lip or a slap to the cheek’, and that she found it ‘really scary’.
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She is now trying to rebuild her relationship with her siblings and father, but finds one thing about moving on incredibly difficult.
"Sometimes I'll, see myself in the mirror and I'm like, 'Oh, my gosh, I look like her,' or 'I sound like her,' but I don't wanna be anything like her',” Shari said in a sad admission.
Speaking about Ruby’s connection to therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, who she worked closely with and also received four consecutive sentences of one to 15 years in prison, she continued: "I certainly got weird vibes from Jodi and Ruby".
She went on to claim that her mum was 'secretive' about the relationship with Hildebrandt.
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"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.”
When asked if she reckoned her mum and Hildebrandt were more than friends, Shari answered: "I'm not sure."
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
Jess Hardiman