A YouTube mom’s transformation from a beloved creator with 2.5 million subscribers to a convicted child abuser has shocked viewers worldwide. The new Hulu documentary about Ruby Franke exposes the sinister truth behind her picture-perfect family image. Her channel brought in over $100,000 monthly from innocent-looking family content before authorities found something terrifying in August 2023.
The reality of Ruby Franke’s downfall turned out more chilling than anyone first thought. Unreleased footage and exclusive interviews with her estranged husband and eldest children tell a darker story. These revelations show how this popular “mom-fluencer” earned four counts of aggravated child abuse. The documentary reveals disturbing evidence of Franke and her partner Jodi Hildebrandt’s actions. They tortured children under the pretense of removing “evil spirits.” Their crimes landed them both in prison, each serving four back-to-back terms of one to 15 years.
Documentary Exposes How Ruby Franke Manipulated Millions
The Hulu documentary’s behind-the-scenes footage exposes Ruby Franke’s double life. Raw clips show her screaming at her children, then switching to a calm persona the moment recording starts. This shocking contrast reveals how she deceived millions of viewers and her own family through her YouTube channel “8 Passengers.”
Her YouTube channel took off after its 2015 launch and reached 2.5 million subscribers by June 2020. The seemingly normal Mormon suburban family content masked darker patterns of psychological control. One disturbing video showed Franke threatening to behead a child’s teddy bear as punishment. On top of that, she bragged about denying her children meals, even letting her six-year-old go hungry after forgetting lunch at school.
Her audience kept growing despite widespread criticism of her controlling methods. The family’s entire life revolved around creating YouTube content, which changed their home’s atmosphere completely. Her eldest daughter Shari put it best: “It felt more like a set than a house”.
The documentary shows how Franke used her children’s personal moments for content. She ignored their protests about being filmed during private times and kept recording anyway. Her son Chad’s frustration comes through in one clip where he says through clenched teeth, “I hate smiling at lenses”.
Franke’s financial schemes also come to light in the documentary. She charged desperate parents between USD 5,000 and USD 15,000 for parenting advice as a “mental fitness trainer”. Her 16-year-old daughter later revealed that Franke took all their YouTube earnings without permission.
The documentary pieces together how Franke’s quest for online fame turned into systematic control and manipulation that ended up in her arrest and conviction. Family interviews and unseen footage show how unchecked parental control can destroy lives in today’s digital world.
Jodi Hildebrandt Transforms Family Dynamic Through Psychological Control
Jodi Hildebrandt first entered the Franke family’s life in 2019 through their church connections, and this ended up changing their family dynamics completely. She founded ConneXions, a program that promised better relationships, but used it to drive wedges between spouses by labeling normal behaviors as various addictions.
The mind games got worse in 2021. Hildebrandt claimed “shadow figures” were haunting her and moved into the Franke’s house. She quickly set up an “in-home separation” between Ruby and Kevin Franke, and Kevin couldn’t even access the upper floor of his own home.
Hildebrandt’s control spread beyond just the Frankes. Her former clients revealed how she cut people off from their loved ones. She would diagnose men with fake porn or sex addictions and label women with “control addictions” – something not even listed in the DSM-5. She just needed people to cut off anyone who questioned her ideas, calling such doubts “selfish”.
Ruby and Hildebrandt’s relationship became strange, and Kevin Franke called it “uncomfortably intimate”. They started having spiritual visions and shared a bedroom. Ruby took her four youngest children and moved 300 miles away to Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins, Utah in May 2023.
Religious extremism took over their abuse, as confirmed by police investigations. Ruby wrote in her journal that she thought demons possessed her children. This led to severe physical punishments she claimed would “cast evil spirits out”.
People who went through ConneXions called it “a church within the church” with Hildebrandt acting as its prophet. The control ran so deep that Ruby’s son Chad believed “Jodi and my mom were God’s chosen people”. This psychological manipulation ended up in horrible abuse, and both women now serve consecutive prison terms.
Children Break Their Silence in Shocking New Footage
Recent footage from the Hulu documentary reveals haunting testimonies from Ruby Franke’s eldest children, Shari and Chad, about years of systematic abuse. Shari, now 21, remembers helping her brother clean blood off walls after a violent episode. “Looking back on it, I don’t think she was a good person. I think she was already an abusive mother before, and obviously it escalated dramatically in the last couple of years,” she says.
Chad, who is now 20, recalls severe physical punishments. “She would spank, whip, take the belt out and whip my butt. Pull down my pants, whip me”. The documentary shows evidence of psychological manipulation through forced camera performances. Ruby told Chad to “fake being happy” in one unaired clip, and he responded, “I don’t know if I can right now”.
Authorities found Ruby’s personal journal that contained the most disturbing revelations. Detective Jessica Bate reads the horrific entries: “Sleep outside, shaved her head, doused her with water, over his nose and mouth, head in the toilet, needs to be painful. Blood on his face, scream and scream”. One entry states darkly, “I told the boy, he copies a snake. If he wants to copy the Savior, he needs to be hundred percent obedient with exactness”.
Ring camera footage shows Ruby’s 12-year-old son’s escape in August 2023. He appeared at a neighbor’s door with duct tape around his extremities and visible wounds. The boy climbed out of a window at Hildebrandt’s residence. Police found his 9-year-old sister in an empty closet with her head completely shaved. The property search revealed handcuffs, ropes, and a mixture of cayenne pepper and honey in a safe room.
Shari now supports better protections for child influencers after her mother’s conviction. She testified before the Utah state legislature. “There is no such thing as a moral or ethical family vlogger,” she stated in her testimony.
Conclusion
Ruby Franke’s disturbing story shows the sinister side of family vlogging and social media stardom. She turned her children’s lives into content instead of protecting them. This brought her significant money while scarring her children forever. Her collaboration with Jodi Hildebrandt made things worse through religious extremism and mind games. Both women ended up in prison.
Her children showed incredible courage when they revealed the brutal truth behind their polished social media image. Their testimonies uncovered blood-covered walls, forced video performances, and personal diaries that detailed torture. These shocking revelations exposed years of systematic abuse hidden behind social media success. Their escape and fight for justice now shows why we need better protection for kids in digital entertainment.
This tragic story proves how online fame can both enable and conceal abuse while rewarding exploitation financially. The documentary reminds us that social media popularity never guarantees good parenting. A perfect online image often hides deep family problems. This heartbreaking case should make us think hard about keeping children safe on social media and the true price of turning family moments into entertainment.
