Daughter of shamed vlogger Ruby Franke hurls Thanksgiving swipe at mom in prison – weeks after calling for law change
Ruby Franke’s eldest daughter, a disgraced mommy vlogger, has made fun of her mother, who is in incarcerated after being found guilty of horrifying child abuse.
After her malnourished adolescent son fled the family’s house of horrors and fled to a neighbor’s house to plead for assistance, Ruby, a Mormon mother of six from Utah, was arrested in August 2023.
For child abuse, which included starving, abusing, and chaining up her two youngest children, the 42-year-old mother received a term of up to 30 years in jail.
The 21-year-old Shari Franke frequently discusses the devastating consequences of her mother’s abuse on social media, and she even has plans to publish her own memoir, The House of My Mother, in January.
Shari criticized Ruby on Thanksgiving Day after she shared a photo of herself making dinner rolls on Instagram.
Shari posted, “This Thanksgiving, I’m especially not thankful for Ruby,” in reference to her parent’s shame.
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“But damn did she teach me how to make good rolls,” she continued.
DAUGHTER CALLS FOR CHANGE
In a speech to the Utah House of Representatives on October 16, Sharito took a stand against child exploitation and referred to herself as a “victim of family vlogging.” This is the dual-edged jab that follows.
“I want to be clear that there is never, never a good reason for posting your children online for money or fame,” she told legislators.
She maintained that in order to prevent exploitation, laws should be created requiring children who are included in family vlogs to be treated as employees of businesses.
Shari and her brothers were frequently videotaped by Ruby for her YouTube channel, 8 Passengers, which has accumulated over 2.5 million subscribers since its launch in 2015.
By 2020, the channel was posting films five times a week, which Shari argued senators was immoral because the kids were being coerced into working in an unpaid job-like environment.
According to the college student, “there is no such thing as a moral or ethical family vlogger,”
“The camera never stops, and there is no such thing as a vacation from filming.”
CHILLING HISTORY
When Ruby began working with family therapist Jodi Hildebrant in 2022, the pious Mormon’s parenting style took a drastic shift, and her channel subscribers began to worry about her children.
In their podcast, the two devout mothers expressed their radical parenting philosophies.
Franke’s horrific punishments for children
Disgraced YouTuber Ruby Franke began journaling about the penalties she gave her kids in May 2023.
By citing “Satanic choices” and “the devil’s” effect on her children’s behavior, she seemed to defend the abuse.
Among the horrifying penalties described in the journal are:
- Poking her children with cactus needles
- Pouring cold water on the kids
- Whipping with a towel or belt
- Forcing them to stand in the hot sun
- Forcibly dunking her son in the pool
- Forcing them to sleep on the ground
- Restricting food
Ruby confessed to pushing her son into a cactus, putting his head underwater, and securing him with duct tape in her journal entries from that period.
She made her daughter work outside barefoot in the sun without any shade and denied her food.
‘UPSIDE DOWN’
Shari wrote on Instagram in August 2023 that her life had been “upside down” ever since her mother was arrested.
“I ve cried, had an infinite number of panic attacks, had way too much ice-cream, and yet life goes on,” Shari posted.
“My life is somehow becoming more beautiful and fulfilling, despite all the terrible things going on.”
According to police records, after Ruby left town in September 2022, Sharihad phoned the police on her mother to conduct a welfare check on her siblings while they were living alone at home.
Both Hildebrant and Ruby entered guilty pleas to four charges of severe child abuse last December.
EMOTIONAL SENTENCING
In a tearful moment during her sentencing, Ruby expressed her regret to her family.
“I will never stop crying for hurting your tender souls,” she said to her kids’ parents in court.
“I apologize for misinterpreting and misrepresenting God’s teachings.
My readiness to give up all for you was deftly twisted into something dreadful. I removed everything good, safe, and soft from you.
“I am willing to serve a prison sentence as long as it takes to unravel what I believed.”
She received four prison sentences ranging from one to fifteen years.
LIFETIME MOVIE SLAMMED
Mormon Mom Gone Wrong, a fictitious drama based on Franke’s misdeeds, debuted on Lifetime on October 26.
On Instagram, Shari criticized the film and pleaded with her followers not to watch it.
“We weren’t contacted regarding the film. “The children will not receive any of the proceeds,” she declared.
“This is a bad film that will just make my siblings feel worse.
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“Please do not support this movie.”
A request for comment from The U.S. Sun was not immediately answered by Lifetime.
Call or text the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 800 422 4453 or use the live chat feature at https://www.childhelphotline.org/ if you or someone you know is impacted by any of the concerns discussed in this story.
Call 911 right away if a kid or another person is in imminent danger.
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