The eldest daughter of Ruby Franke, who was convicted of physically and emotionally abusing her children, has revealed the torment she went through in a new memoir.
Shari Franke, 21, who reached out to authorities and the child protection services for help before her mother’s arrest in August 2023, writes that she and her five siblings were subject to Franke’s “twisted interpretation of crime and punishment all our lives”.
The mother of six, who gave parenting tips via a once-popular YouTube blog called “8 Passengers”, convinced her two youngest children that they were evil, possessed and needed to be punished to repent.
She and her business partner, mental health counsellor Jodi Hildebrandt, pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. The pair were jailed for up to 30 years each last February.
In the memoir, The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom, Ms Franke details for the first time what her childhood was like, how this changed when Hildebrandt moved into their family home, and if she has been able to forgive her mother.
Here is everything you need to know about the memoir that was released on Tuesday.
‘Really scary’
Ms Franke said during an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America (GMA) that she experienced abuse at the hands of her mother when she was five or six years old.
She said her mother was “physical” and would slap her in the face or, when she was playing piano, she would slam her hands down on a surface.
She described her mother’s behaviour as “really scary”.
Ruby Franke in court. Pic: AP
But it was when Franke met Hildebrandt that the physical abuse turned more psychological, Ms Franke told GMA.
“I was like, I don’t like her [Hildebrandt], but maybe this is one good thing that’s come from it, is [Franke is] not yelling, she’s not hitting us any more.
“But it did become more psychological. And in a way, that was more damaging to me.”
Read more: Who is Ruby Franke?
‘My family’s very own cult leader’
In the book, Ms Franke describes Hildebrandt, who ran controversial life counselling organisation ConneXion, as her family’s “very own cult leader” who swept into their lives and turned her mother into “a fawning, starstruck acolyte who lapped up her every demented word like it was holy water”.
Hildebrandt and Franke often collaborated on parenting and relationship advice videos, which were often criticised for extreme teachings.
In since-deleted YouTube videos, the two preached that those who were not living in “truth,” including children, should be cut off from the rest of their families, Sky News’ US partner network, NBC News reported.
‘Strange’ relationship
Ms Franke goes on to hint that the relationship between her mother and her business partner escalated when she moved into their home.
“I don’t think it’s normal at all that a therapist would move into her client’s home,” she told GMA.
“I was moving out to college and hadn’t even left the house yet, and she is in my room and in my bed.”
Jodi Hildebrandt. Pic: Utah State Courts/AP
Ms Franke said her mother was “secretive” about her relationship with Hildebrandt, but said the “vibes [she] was getting was that something was strange between them”.
In an excerpt from her memoir that she shared on GMA, Ms Franke revealed that she found messages on Franke’s laptop after her arrest, that seemed to confirm the pair’s relationship had “spilled over into physical”.
However, when she was asked to elaborate on the matter on GMA, Ms Franke said that she “never saw anything specific about that” and wasn’t “sure” if they were more than friends.
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‘I don’t want to be anything like her’
At her sentencing hearing last year, Franke tearfully apologised to her children, saying: “I’ll never stop crying for hurting your tender souls.”
When asked if she thinks her mother meant her apology, Ms Franke told GMA that she believes she is “as sorry as she can be”.
She said she is now trying to rebuild her relationship with her siblings and her father, Kevin Franke – who filed for divorce from Franke.
“Sometimes I’ll see myself in the mirror and I’m like: ‘Oh, my gosh, I look like her’ or ‘I sound like her,'” Ms Franke said.
“But I don’t want to be anything like her.”
Sky News has not read a copy of the book.
