Former YouTube family vlogger and internet sensation on the 8 Passengers channel, Ruby Franke, was recently exposed through Hulu’s newest documentary, “Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke.” This new series detailed the events leading to Ruby’s eventual imprisonment for child abuse in August 2023. While the three-episode docuseries only covers a portion of the events concerning her abusive parenting style, audiences finally understand the depth of Franke’s wrongdoings.
Throughout the series, the oldest Franke children, Shari and Chad Franke, consented to speak on the issues they faced as they grew victim to their mother’s madness. Shari and Chad remain the only two children who wish to speak on the matter, though their father, Kevin Franke, also joined in the conversation, accepting the offer from Hulu.
“[The ‘Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke’ documentary] was captivating but also concerning. I thought it was really interesting getting to see so many different perspectives, especially from the neighbors and the two oldest kids. It made me realize how unnoticed child abuse can be, especially with family vloggers. It shows how people cover child abuse up by excusing it as parenting techniques or ‘tough love.’ It also showed current and long-term psychological and physical effects of child abuse,” magnet junior Ella Arwen said.
The documentary began with the first episode, “Abundance,” with a slight foreshadow of the doorbell scene when the 12-year-old Franke child — who remained anonymous throughout the series — escaped licensed therapist Jodi Hildebrandt’s home and rang her neighbor’s doorbell in hopes of receiving help. After the child grabbed the attention of Hildebrant’s neighbor, he found himself sitting on the neighbor’s porch with duct taped wrists and tears streaming down his face, which resulted from Ruby and Hildebrandt’s severe punishments. The neighbor provided the young child with food and water as they waited for the police to arrive.
Throughout the first episode, clips of early YouTube videos from the 8 Passengers channel were showcased that exemplified a happy Mormon family. In reality, these videos did not show the reality of the family’s home life. The thousands of behind-the-scenes clips that police officials received revealed Franke’s harsh demeanor and neglectful attitude toward her six children. Without a doubt, Franke immediately removed these clips before posting so her viewers would not see the way she treated her children. Instead, the mother only posted wholesome content that represented a perfect family.
Deeply founded in the roots of Mormon culture, the idea of a perfect family became the ideal view for families under the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Families under this denomination hold a harmonized desire to pursue a life of holiness, which leads to intense parenting styles, as seen in the Franke household. As seen in the second episode, “Distortion” revealed her extreme punishment tactics, which Chad faced due to his alleged poor and recurring behavior. A video published during Chad’s teen years showcased him discussing his punishment, which included the revocation of his bed privileges. Eventually, Ruby’s parenting left him sleeping on a beanbag each night for months. After immediate backlash from viewers, Ruby quickly removed the video from the 8 Passengers channel in hopes of preventing further hate comments and conspiracies.
“This [documentary] shows that no matter how ‘happy’ a family is, abuse could still be happening. No matter the situation, whether it’s the nicest home or the worst child abuse, it can be shown in any manner. I feel like this shows how you can’t trust what happens behind closed doors. It may look all happy in front of the camera but when it’s off, bad things could be happening. I think this shows that you can’t believe everything you see and not everyone is safe,” junior Olivia McCowey said.
With the idea that Chad needed serious help due to his behavior, Ruby called out to Hildebrandt and she soon entered the picture as his mentor and therapist. Hildebrandt became one of, if not the closest, friend of Ruby’s. She led Kevin to indulge in men’s counseling sessions after she convinced Ruby that he would slowly destroy their marriage if he did not participate. Hildebrandt believed that God had called her to a higher standard, which led her clients to think that she represented God’s best work. This idea spread all over social media and eventually led to the creation of ConneXions: a set of classes couples took to improve their marriage.
As seen mid-way through the second episode, Hilderbrandt slowly took over the Franke household after she convinced Ruby to let her move into her house due to the various demonic sightings she had experienced in her own home. These experiences followed Hildebrandt to the Franke home, as she claimed that demons repeatedly attacked her. To eliminate these feelings, Hildebrant soon after convinced Ruby to kick out Kevin and Chad from their house to work on themselves mentally. After an all-time high in her relationship with Kevin when he began his ConneXions classes, Ruby slowly began to detect a switch in his attitude. Ruby believed that Kevin would hold back their children if he did not leave the house and cut out all contact with the kids.
After months of disconnect between Ruby and Kevin, Ruby and Hildebrandt’s abusive actions finally came to a close after the youngest Franke boy escaped the Utah home in 2023. The third and final episode, “Truth,” revealed various other hidden clips of Ruby’s abusive parenting and eventually the events leading up to the arrest of both women. Scenes showed the youngest Franke daughter sitting in a closet and interacting with police officials. Shortly after the children found their way out of the home, Ruby and Hildebrandt pleaded guilty to multiple child abuse charges, which could total up to 30 years in prison.
Though this tragic storyline exemplified child abuse and harsh manipulation, the documentary helps raise awareness of the danger behind family vlog channels. While Ruby and Hildebrandt pay the consequences of their actions in prison, audiences remain in shock at the reality behind their alleged perfect Mormon lives.
“I think it serves as a warning to family vloggers because people are not more likely to call out concerning behavior in the comments and their own videos. However, I know a lot of subscribers are young children and most are unaware of potential dangers posed to family vlogger children. But hopefully parents will become more aware of their parent peers and their own parenting,” Arwen said.
