The eldest daughter of former popular family vlogger Ruby Franke, who was convicted of child abuse, has opened up about whether she can ever forgive her mother.
“Forgiveness is something I’ve had to study a lot and think about what it means,” Shari Franke, 21, said in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday. Ta. “But for me, forgiveness seems like not spending every moment of your life doing it.”
Ruby Franke pleaded guilty in 2023 to four counts of child abuse and received four prison terms ranging from one to 15 years each. Her business partner, Jody Hildebrandt, received the same sentence.
Shari Franke’s memoir, “The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom,” was released Tuesday by Simon & Schuster.
The Franke family has long been known for their popular and often controversial YouTube channel 8 Passengers, where Ruby Franke chronicled her life with her husband Kevin Franke and their six children. The channel had more than 2 million subscribers by the time it ended.
According to published excerpts, Shari Franke wrote in her book that her mother “indoctrinated me and my siblings into thinking about crime and punishment all our lives until Jody came along and added a frightening new flavor of sadism to the regime.” “We have been subject to distorted interpretations of this.” Amazon.
(NBC News has not read a copy of the book. Shari Franke did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.)
Ruby Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested in August 2023 after police found one of Franke’s sons emaciated with an open wound and bound with duct tape. The boy had fled from Hildebrandt’s house to a neighbor’s house. One of Franke’s daughters was found similarly malnourished at Hildebrandt’s home.
At her sentencing hearing last year, Ruby Franke tearfully apologized to her children.
“I… believed that darkness was light and that justice was wrong,” she told the court. “I would do anything in this world for you. I robbed you of everything soft and safe and good.”
Attorneys for Ruby Franke and Hildebrandt did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Shari Franke detailed the abuse she suffered when she was 5 or 6 years old, saying her mother slapped her in the face and slammed her hands against surfaces.
“I was really scared,” she said on “GMA.” But when Ruby Franke met Hildebrandt, she said the physical abuse turned into a different kind of behavior.
“I thought, ‘Oh, Jody, I don’t like her. But maybe one of the good things that came out of this is that[Ruby Franke]doesn’t yell at us anymore, she doesn’t hit us anymore. ” said Shari Franke. “But it became more psychological. And in some ways, it was more damaging to me.”
Shari Franke further elaborates in her memoir that Hildebrandt was her family’s “truly a cult leader, a false prophet who swept into our lives like a hurricane and killed my mother.” , he soothed her for all her dementia, turning her into a fan of his flattering stardom.” Those words were like holy water. ”
More NBC coverage of the Ruby Franke case:
Hildebrandt and Franke have often collaborated on parenting and relationship advice videos for Hildebrandt’s life coaching service, ConneXions, which has been criticized for its extreme teachings. In a YouTube video that has since been deleted, the pair preached that people, including children, who do not live in “truth” should be separated from other family members.
Shari Franke said the “strange atmosphere” escalated when Hildebrandt moved into the Fran family’s home in 2022, and her mother tried to keep what they were up to a secret. He added that there was. According to her attorney, her father, Kevin Franke, also separated from Ruby Franke that year at her direction.
“I don’t think it’s at all normal for a therapist to move into a client’s home,” she told GMA. “I was going to college and hadn’t left the house yet, but she’s in my room and my bed.”
Shari Franke said she has been trying to report the situation to authorities for years. After her mother was arrested, she posted an image of a police officer on her Instagram Story with the caption, “Finally.” She also said in another now-deleted post that she and her family were “so happy that justice was served.” We have been trying to bring this to the attention of the police and CPS for years and we are so pleased that they have finally decided to stand up. ”
In October, she testified before the Utah State Senate about her experiences as a child family vlog star, stating that “there is no such thing as a moral or ethical family vlog.”
“I’m here today as a victim of my family’s video blog,” she told lawmakers. “My goal today is not to offer an idea for a solution to this problem, but to highlight the ethical and financial issues that come with being a child influencer.”
Shari Franke doesn’t think a mother will ever fully understand the guilt she inflicted on her children, but she believes Ruby Franke is “as sorry as she can be,” she told GMA. ” said.
Shari Franke said she is currently trying to rebuild relationships with her siblings and father.
“Sometimes I look at myself in the mirror and think, ‘Oh my god, I look like her,’ or ‘I look like her,'” she said. “But I don’t want to be like her.”
