For many years, Kevin and Ruby Franke’s children appeared to be some of the luckiest kids on the planet. As they featured in their mother’s successful vlog and attained massive popularity, they became the envy of their peers. But this image came crashing down after the world uncovered the can of worms from years of abuse. But where are the children now?
Ruby and Kevin Franke’s children endured years of maltreatment from their mother and her mentor, Jodi Hilderbrandt. Meanwhile, the mother painted the picture of a happy family as they featured in her popular YouTube channel 8 Passengers. One year after Ruby Franke’s arrest, people are wondering about the whereabouts of her children as well as their mental state.
How Many Children Does Ruby Franke Have?
Rubi Franke has six children: Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve. She shares them with her husband, Kevin Franke. After their marriage, they began welcoming their children and had all six kids between 2003 and 2013.
Ruby Franke said having kids was a major part of her life aspirations. “My dream was to be a stay-at-home mom and to make, like, dinner for my family and to have lots and lots of babies,” she revealed in one episode of her popular vlog.
Ruby Franke’s Vlog
Ruby Franke showcased all six children in all episodes of her reality show. The whole world watched as the family waded through challenging moments and enjoyed good times together. The children’s daily activities, such as preparing for school and doing house chores, were also on full display.
According to their oldest child, Shari, the children barely had time off from the cameras. In essence, they had to sacrifice their lives for the success of the vlog. “The camera never stops, and there is no such thing as a vacation from filming,” she told local Congressmen during a meeting with them in October 2024.
“Some of our most popular videos were when my eyebrow was accidentally waxed off, and the whole world saw a crying teenager when I just wanted to mourn in private … or the time I was violently ill and got the leading role in the video that day,” she told the lawmakers. The YouTube channel became a hit, drawing over a billion views and millions of followers.
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What Did Ruby Franke Do to Her Children?
As Ruby and Kevin Franke’s blog began to gain popularity after it began in 2015, viewers were drawn to certain disciplinary measures that seemed extreme. For example, Ruby Franke denied her son, Chad, access to his bed for over a week. Chad, who disclosed the punishment during one of the episodes, stated that he received the treatment for pranking one of his siblings.
At a point, viewers called on Utah authorities to investigate the family. However, the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, who visited the home and interviewed Ruby Franke’s children, couldn’t find sufficient evidence to establish a case.
Ruby Franke’s atrocities came to light in 2019 after she became friends with Jodi Hilderbrandt, a fellow Mormon mom who she met at church. Hilderbrandt was a therapist who counseled troubled families. Soon after, Ruby and Franke began to live apart, prompting Ruby to relocate herself and her kids to Hilderbrandt’s home, where the abuse of her kids escalated.
There, with the assistance of Hilderbrandt, Ruby Franke subjected her kids to extreme abuse. These included starvation, sleeping outdoors, and standing for hours in the sun. One day, one of the children escaped from the house and alerted the cops with the help of a neighbor.
The police discovered duct tape and wounds on the arms and legs of the “emaciated and malnourished” children. Prosecutors also accused the women of dressing the wounds on Ruby Franke’s children with honey and cayenne pepper.
They also allegedly bound them with chains, handcuffs, and ropes. According to the prosecutors, Ruby made her daughter run barefoot on a dirt road. They also accused her of smothering her son and burying his head in water in one instance.
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Where Are Ruby Franke’s Children Now?
Ruby Franke’s children have been doing pretty well since their mom’s arrest and prison sentence. Interestingly, her oldest son, Chad, celebrated one year of her arrest in August 2024. “Happy Prisonversary,” he posted on social media along with a photo of Ruby Franke before her arrest.
Chad, 19, has also revealed via social media that he has begun attending a real estate school. “Started Real Estate School, which means I also need to learn how to golf,” he stated, along with a photo of himself on a golf course.
Shari, the oldest of the children, has assumed the role of the family’s spokesperson alongside her father. Aside from granting an audience to Utah legislators, she has also been revealing details of her childhood ordeals to the public. Recently, she condemned the release of a movie, “Mormon Mom Gone Wrong: The Ruby Franke Story.”
In a statement released through her Instagram account, Shari claimed that the producers of the movie, which aims to retell their story, never reached out to her and her siblings. Also, they were not going to benefit from the proceeds of the film, which she described as “trash.”
“This movie is trash and only hurts my siblings more. Please do not support this movie,” she wrote. Shari, 21, has also expressed regret over her involvement with the vlog. “If I could go back and do it all again, I’d rather have an empty bank account now and not have my childhood plastered all over the internet,” she wrote in another Instagram post.
The rest of the children are with Kevin Franke, Ruby Franke’s estranged husband. For obvious reasons, they’ve been kept away from the public eye.
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