Almost one year after her mother, Ruby Franke and business partner Jodi Hilderbrant, were jailed, Shari Franke is speaking out on the abuse she suffered as well as the “strange” relationship the incarcerated duo shared.
For the uninitiated, Ruby Franke gained notoriety in 2015 through her Youtube channel dubbed 8 Passengers, which documented her life raising six children, including her eldest Shari, and quickly amassed some 2.5 million followers.
The channel focused on Ruby and husband Kevin’s parenting style, which included home schooling their children, as well as their Mormon faith.
In 2019, Ruby met her soon-to-be business partner, Jodi, who was a former sex therapist and founder of the religious online platform ConneXions.
The legal proceedings, which led to both women receiving the maximum sentence for aggravated child abuse, revealed that Franke kept handwritten journals that documenting the abuse of her two youngest children. This included starving them, forcing them to work outside in direct sunlight, and isolating them from any outside contact.
In a new interview with Good Morning America, Shari recalls her upbringing with her mother, Ruby.
“When I was younger, around, like, 5, 6, Ruby was really physical, whether it was, like, a slap to the lip or a slap to the cheek,” she says.
“When I would practice the piano, her hand would slam, and it was really scary.”
When her father moved out in 2022 and Jodi moved into the family home, Shari says the nature of the abuse transformed from physical to psychological.
“I could feel a shift,” Shari recalls. “I was like, ‘Oh, Jodi, I don’t like her, but maybe this is one good thing that’s come from it: She’s not yelling, she’s not hitting us anymore.’ But it did become more psychological in a way that was more damaging to me.”
Shari, now 22, also spoke of the “weird” and “secretive” relationship her mother shared with Jodi.
“I don’t think it’s normal at all that a therapist would move into her client’s home,” she says in the interview. “I was moving out to college, I hadn’t even left the house yet, and she is in my room and in my bed.”
Ruby plead guilty and did not seek a shorter sentence after receiving between four and 30 years behind bars for the abuse, instead apologising to her children and thanking local police “angels” for saving them from her.
“I’ll never stop crying for hurting your tender souls. My willingness to sacrifice all for you was masterfully manipulated into something very ugly. I took from you all that was soft and safe and good,” she said at the time.
