The “public image” of the dishonest Utah parenting blogger and six Ruby Franke mommy mommy mommy mommy mommy mommy are in prison for up to 30 years in prison for child abuse, according to criminal defense attorneys.
Franke, 43, and two 55-year-old mother Jodi Hildebrandt ran the joint Parenting and Lifestyle YouTube Channel He was called the Connexions Classroom before his arrest and pleaded guilty to four of four of the six counts of two child abuse in St. George's court in December 2023.
“The case of child abuse is unfortunately familiar, but this stands out for how power, public image, and systematic impairments are not checked. “For many years, Franke has built an online persona as a perfect mom and has given millions of parenting advice. But behind the carefully constructed smile, a world of starvation, isolation and brutal punishment was a dark truth.”
Wright added that the Franke/Hildebrandt incident was “a calm reminder that social media can hide dysfunctions in sparkly facades.”
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Most families in the area knew that Franke had a YouTube channel called 8Passengers, her neighbor told Fox News Digital. “Some of “neighbors were very worried,” the neighbors said when she started another video blog on Facebook with Hildebrandt, called “Moms of Truth”/Connexions. (Mom's Truth/ Instagram)
Before meeting Hildebrandt, Franke successfully made a parenting video blog (Vlog) on a YouTube called 8 Passengers, representing herself, her husband and six children. The video blog was a success, with over 2 million followers, and produced a large portion of the family's income for years.
However, when users notice Franke's extraordinary behavior and punishment for her child, the 8 Passants Empire collapses. The story of Franke's downfall is filmed in a new Hulu documentary called “Family in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke.”
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In a previous video without Hildebrandt, Franke complains about her children's school to teach dance, sleepover risk, bullying and other topics using Tiktok. Her videos include her husband, including a “live couple workshop” on finance management. (YouTube/Connexions)
“Our channel wants to be the sunshine in a world where people criticize each other and make each other feel bad,” Franke said in an early video shown in the documentary. “We are here to show that a happy family is real.”
However, the other clips shown in the series are not happy and edited versions Franke posted on social media. They show another aspect of a mom blogger – something that had a short temper when her children and husband did something she disliked.
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In one clip, Franke ordered his eldest son, Chad Franke, to “be happy.”
Chad Franke discusses his relationship with his mother, Ruby Franke, in Hulu's “The Devil in the Family” documentary series. (hulu)
“It wasn't enough to just interact with her all of a sudden,” Franke's husband Kevin Franke said in the documentary.
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“I had to interact with the camera… and she pulled it out and said, 'Kevin, this camera has millions of people looking at us.' ”
Brannon Patrick, a clinical therapist who works temporarily under Hildebrandt and is featured in the documentary series, said it was “attractive” to see Franke go from “happiness” to “awakening and anger” in an unedited video.
“The reality is, everyone has problems, everyone is struggling, no one is perfect, no one is perfect.
“It was crazy when it exploded right away. All these anti-Mormon podcasters really got front and center about it, and how the church was complicit in it, and how the church's teachings about the sexuality of the church and things like that were being done,” he explained. “And this sparked those talks… about perfectionism and fakes – you act like one way in front of people, but when the door is closed, it's actually the exact opposite.”
Ruby Franke's husband details the “crazy” relationship between his wife, his child and his accomplice in abuse.
Chad began to see her mother's change as big checks got caught up in her constant content creation. His mother had a shorter circuit and was not acting in the way her children wanted to act or answering how she wanted to respond, especially while she was trying to record and portray a particular perfect image of her family.
8 Passan's popularity began to decline after Chad casually was recognized in one of the videos he posted to her account that he had been sleeping for seven months as a punishment for his actions. Hildebrandt enters Franke's life after the 8 Passers fell apart, and two of their peers decide to create a Connexions Classroom.
“I think we have a culture of perfectionism and shame in many ways. [the Franke case] It just showed that. ”
“Jody threw fuel into the fire and the already burning fire and took it to extremes,” Patrick said.
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Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt ran a joint YouTube page called Connexions, formerly known as Moms of Truth. (Instagram/moms_of_truth)
Connexions Classroom sold counseling sessions, packages and retreats ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
In one connected classroom episode, Franke told viewers, “If your child sets fire on you, you don't pat them on the head and say, 'That's fine, I'll help you.' No, you defeat them, you kick them, you can't put the welt on your child's feet, and then you can't expect loving healing. ”
Patrick said he will diagnose Hildebrandt with clinical narcissism.
“She was really lonely.”
“I know that the words are thrown so much that I don't use them lightly,” he said. “But she was a narcissist. … She was charming enough to attract people, but she still felt very detached by me. She was very persuasive in her speech, but she was detached. Her family life was not good.
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Kevin Franke said Ruby “really wanted” to be the perfect husband… a family's chances are strong patriarchs.” (hulu)
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In 2023, Utah authorities arrested two fellow and business partners for abuse of Franke's two youngest children, a 9-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy. Some of the abuses occurred at the Hildebrandt home.
The allegations against Franke and Hildebrandt were only revealed after Franke's son fled the Ivins home in Hildebrandt and ran to his neighbors.
“Social media has helped Ruby Franke build a brand around extreme parenting, making it difficult for people to see the red flag,” trauma therapist Malka Shaw, founder of Kesher Shalom Projects, told Fox News Digital. “When someone presents it as an authority on family values, they often don't like asking questions about them, even when the content itself is unsettling.”
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Wright said, “When a family life becomes an abrand, awareness wins health.”
“So the secrets thrive and the control becomes tense,” she said. “Ruby's eldest son, Shari, has spoken about the damages, joined the growing chorus of former child influencers and reality stars, and recently joined the reality star who discussed the dangers of living life without protecting the public eye.”
In the documentary, Shari explained how her mother's company, 8 Passengers LLC, named Franke's six children as “employees.”
“When children are treated as products, they are vulnerable in every way, shape, and shape, even when they live in suburban homes or Hollywood.”
Wright said that “all the most memorable questions” in the Franke Hildebrandt case was the reason the abuse “didn't stop early.” Shari Franke also spoke in her memoirs how she worked over the years to get a department of family and children's services to take action against her mother.
Shari Franke explained to the Family and Children's Services department how she worked for years to take action in her memoirs. (hulu)
“Child protection is often underrepresented and hesitant to intervene when the accused is a respected member of the community. We can carefully curate a good image and cover the abuser's cover for years,” Wright explained.
She added that for many Utah locals, the incident was “betrayal.”
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The end of Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt ended with fellow prison peers and business partners.
“Franke wasn't just an influencer. She was a kind of moral authority,” Wright said. “Her fall sparked a conversation about how child welfare regulations should apply to content creators and what ethical obligations should be made to the subject of their work. How do you protect children in digital media, and how do you ensure that they are protected and their rights and privacy are protected?”
Franke and Hildebrandt were sentenced to serve four consecutive terms between prisons of a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of 60 years.
Ruby Franke was first made public at a hearing last year's sentencing.
A poster for the film “Family Devil: The Autumn of Ruby Franke.” (hulu)
“For the past four years I have chosen to follow the lawyers and guidance that have led me to dark delusions,” a tearful Franke said in a statement at the time. “My twisted version of reality was barely checked to isolate me from anyone who challenged me. I was believed to be a place of evil and full of wounded hospitals, hospitals that cleanse the brain, church leaders who died lying, husbands who refused to abuse, children who needed abuse, children who needed abuse.”
She continued: “To my baby, my six little chicks, you're part of me,” she continued. “I was a mom's duck who was consistently rocking you safely… for the past four years I've been consistently putting you in danger.”
This case prompted a discussion about how parenting and lifestyle blogs present only a person's real sliver, as well as the child's right to their privacy, if parents are social media stars.
