Hulu documentary to feature Shari, Ruby Franke’s oldest daughter, addressing family abuse issues

Ruby Franke’s children are going to come forward to talk about the severe mistreatment their mother and Jodi Hildebrandt, her business partner, subjected their siblings to.

A documentary on Hulu titled ‘Devil In The Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke’ is set to debut on February 27. It will provide ‘exclusive insights into the Frankes, their circle of friends and neighbors, and more than a thousand hours of unreleased footage from their YouTube channel,’ as mentioned in a statement from the streaming platform.

This upcoming series will mark the first occasion when Ruby’s estranged spouse Kevin and her elder children, Shari and Chad, will narrate their experiences in front of the camera, as per details from Deadline.

Shari, 21, has already hinted at what she might say in her recently released memoir ‘The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom.’

She wrote that her mother Ruby ‘was never warm or kind’ to her during her childhood and would often feel uncomfortable with the content she uploaded for millions to see.  

Ruby pleaded guilty in December 2023 to four counts of aggravated child abuse and was sentenced in February 2024 to four one-to-15 year terms in prison. 

Hildebrandt received the same sentence, though state law stipulates that both women can only be behind bars for 30 years at most. It will be up to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole to determine how long they’ll spend in prison.

‘For years, the Frankes’ YouTube channel had documented a wholesome, happy family life, with 2.5 million subscribers tuning in at its peak,’ the description for the show reads. ‘As the cracks began to show, the family turned to counselor Jodi Hildebrandt for guidance – and rapidly found themselves trapped in a nightmare.’

In 2014, Ruby and Kevin started their YouTube channel ‘8Passengers,’ where they meticulously documented their life together with the backdrop being the family’s Mormon faith.

Over time, viewers of the channel expressed concerns about Ruby’s extreme parenting methods.

Perhaps the most famous incident saw Ruby punish her then six-year-old daughter for forgetting her school lunch at home by refusing to bring it to her.

Another incident involving one of Ruby’s sons further raised eyebrows when he said that he was sleeping on a beanbag in a hallway after being kicked out of his room for making fun of his other sibling.

In an interview with Business Insider, Ruby insisted that sleeping on the bean bag had been the boy’s choice.

By 2020, people had started a petition for have Ruby investigated by Child Protective Services. The channel then vanished from the internet in January 2023 with around 2.3 million subscribers.

In 2022, Ruby made the jump to Hildebrandt’s ‘ConneXions’ podcast, where the two would sit next to one another on a couch and give life coaching lessons as well as harsh parenting advice.

Prosecutors later alleged that both women were abusing two of Ruby’s kids behind closed doors at Hildebrandt’s $5 million fortress of a residence.

Ruby’s emaciated 12-year-old son Russell escaped from the 10,000-square-foot home in August 2023, leading police to find his 9-year-old sister slumped over in a closet. 

Russell crawled out of a window and ran to the home of a neighbor, who observed him to have open wounds and tape around his ankles.

Both Ruby and Hildebrandt were arrested shortly after this. Hildebrandt also surrendered her mental health counseling license once she was in custody.

Over the course of an ensuing investigation, police discovered a cramped safe room in the basement of the home that was locked from the outside, rope that would be used to tie up the children, and adult diapers.

The boy also told police that his mother and Hildebrandt would dress their wounds with honey and cayenne pepper, both of which were later found at the home.

Prosecutors additionally claimed the two young children were prohibited from interacting with others and were hidden in the home when people came to visit.

Authorities described the environment the kids were living in as a ‘work-camp like setting’ where they were regularly denied food, water, beds and virtually all forms of entertainment.

Ruby and Hildebrandt’s relationship went further than that of just business partners or partners in crime, Shari alleged in her new book.

She claimed the two were engaged in a lesbian affair – even while they condemned gay people to their avid followers.

According to Shari, Hildebrandt moved into Shari’s bedroom in the Franke family’s Utah home, relegating Shari to the living room couch and invoked strict rules that no one should enter without express permission. Even Ruby’s husband Kevin was barred, according to Shari’s book.

‘He was told the upstairs was off-limits,’ wrote Shari. ‘He could leave the house when he wanted, but he couldn’t return without Ruby’s permission.

‘Even access to the kitchen for meals required her approval.’

Shari also said the two spent an increasing amount of time ‘hunkered down in their upstairs sanctuary.’

After his wife’s arrest, Kevin told police that he hadn’t even been to his house or seen his kids for over a year. Kevin and Ruby separated in July 2022.

‘The only way I would ever get back into my house was I had to get Jodi’s approval, because if I didn’t get Jodi’s approval. I would never get Ruby’s approval,’ Kevin told investigators. 

Shari recently shared on Instagram that she’s become engaged, but is now saying she’s done sharing her private life in a signal she doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps.

‘I’ve had my voice and agency taken for so long, and now, I’m putting my foot down,’ she explained. ‘I’m not going to talk about my wedding, future husband or future kids.’