YouTube mum Ruby Franke's eldest son shares moment stuff 'started to change' at home before child abuse arrest
Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing
Ruby Franke's eldest son, Chad, has spoken out about the disgraced content creator for the first time since her sentencing last year.
Together with his father, Kevin, the pair spoke in an exclusive interview with ABC News, where they opened up about their living situation and how their home life 'changed'.
Ruby Franke and family therapist Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested in August 2023, after Ruby's son escaped their property and asked a neighbour for help, with his ankles and wrists duct taped and covered in several wounds.
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A Hulu documentary on the case is set to be released tomorrow (27 February), and you can view the trailer below:
Disturbing unseen footage of the mother verbally berating her children can be seen in the trailer, giving viewers a glimpse into what to expect in the doc.
Franke and Hildebrandt were sentenced to four counts of one to 15 years in prison for aggravated child abuse, which can only add up to a maximum of 30 years, due to a Utah law on capping consecutive sentences.
Ruby was known for starting her family YouTube channel 8 Passengers, which accumulated over a billion views before being deleted in 2023.
Speaking during the interview, Kevin made a number of admissions, includingbeing completely unaware of the abuse of the couple's children, while stating that he 'still' loves her - but doesn't forgive her for what she's done.
Kevin, who shares six children with Franke, also sent an urgent message out to other families looking to make it on social media.
He highlighted: "I want people to know that there is real danger when you place yourself or your family or children out onto public social media."
Now, Chad has weighed in with what he thinks about his mother's conviction, telling ABC reporter Eva Pilgrim that despite having 'very fond memories' of his childhood, he can pinpoint when things started to change for the worse.
As the family's social media presence got bigger, things got messier, he claims.
When asked about when the family dynamic switched, he answered: "I think once companies started coming to us offering big money for scripts."
He went on: "It was a chaotic, chaotic experience,
"So lots of yelling, lots of snapping and lots of time outs in the corner."
Kevin and Chad also agreed that when Franke's business partner, Hildebrandt, got increasingly involved in their home life, the family dynamic changed even more.
Chad recalled: "Looking back, I treated her as a god, and I trusted her so much."
Kevin added: "She came across as somebody who was firm and very authoritative, and so we thought, this is the perfect fit.
"What became surprising to me was when the focus gradually shifted away from just solely on our children to us as a couple," he said.
As a result, Kevin says he was pushed out of his family home by Franke and Hildebrandt as they cut him off from his family and accused him of having an 'addiction to selfishness'.
"The bottom line is that I was choosing to trust a licensed professional mental health counsellor and my wife, and they gave some terrible counsel," the father said.
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.
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.
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.
Topics: Ruby Franke, YouTube, Social Media, US News, Crime
Joshua Nair