The Daughter of Disgraced YouTuber Ruby Franke Is Speaking Out

Photo: ABC News/Good Morning America/Youtube

Shari Franke is opening up about her experience growing up as the oldest daughter of former YouTuber and convicted child abuser Ruby Franke, the Utah mother of six who was arrested in 2023 after her injured, malnourished son climbed out of a window and ran to a neighbor for help. “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,” Shari told Good Morning America in an interview about her new memoir, The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom. “When I would practice the piano, her hand would slam, and it was really scary.” In her book, Shari wrote that she was 11 when Ruby began implementing disciplinary techniques from the West Point military academy, claiming that punishments “took on a more elaborate, almost theatrical quality” and “often involved grand gestures or prolonged periods of deprivation.”

Per Shari’s Good Morning America interview, the physical abuse allegedly shifted to become “more psychological” after Jodi Hildebrandt — a Mormon family counselor who became Ruby’s business partner and mentor — entered the picture. (Hildebrandt was arrested alongside Ruby and also pled guilty to child abuse.) Shari said she got “weird vibes” from Hildebrandt and Ruby’s relationship. “I don’t think it’s normal at all that a therapist would move into her client’s home,” she said. “I was moving out to college, I hadn’t even left the house yet, and she is in my room and in my bed.” In her memoir, Shari recalled finding messages on Ruby’s laptop after she and Hildebrandt were arrested that suggested that their relationship “had spilled over into the physical.” Per Rolling Stone, Shari also wrote of a night when she saw Ruby sneaking out of the room where Hildebrandt was sleeping, causing her to reflect that the women who publicly “condemned queerness” in their videos were “embodying it privately.” Still, Shari, who said she was cut off from her family after leaving for college, told Good Morning America that she “never saw anything specific” to confirm a romantic involvement.

Ruby was sentenced to up to 60 years in prison last February, and used the opportunity to issue an apology to her children (who were not present at the court hearing). “I think that she’s as sorry as she can be,” Shari said of the apology on Good Morning America. “What she has done is so bad that I don’t think her mind allows her to kind of fully comprehend the guilt of all that. And so I think that she probably genuinely believed everything she said. I don’t believe it though.” She told Rolling Stone that she has no interest in establishing a relationship with Ruby, who wrote her a letter without acknowledging why she was sending it from prison. “I’ll never respond to that,” Shari said. “I don’t feel an emotional tie to her anymore.”

Since her mother’s arrest, Shari has advocated against the practice of family vlogging due to her personal experiences growing up in front of a camera. “I’ve witnessed the damage of what happens when your life is put online,” she told People. “There’s no ethical way to do it.” This past December, Shari announced her engagement on Instagram alongside a request for privacy. “I’m not going to talk about my wedding, future husband, or future kids,” she wrote in the caption. “I’ll continue to advocate for kids who didn’t have a voice (so you’ll still be seeing me, don’t worry) but this is closure for me. I’m moving on with my life, and that’s true freedom and joy ❤️. ”