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Stop scrolling because I need to tell you about the YouTuber mom who just got sentenced for child abuse, child abuse that was obvious through her videos on YouTube. But let's back up and figure out how we even got here. So beginning around 2015, Ruby Frankie went out of
way to make her life seem like a dream. That's when she began her fateful journey as a momfluencer, posting what were meant to be aspirational videos on YouTube about her family and her parenting strategies. Her channel, Eight Passengers, was named for her own eight-person family, Ruby, her husband Kevin, and their six children. Now, in her videos, Ruby talked about redecorating their home and installing a bidet in the
bathroom. She also spoke about her attitudes toward parenting and discipline. And it was pretty clear in these videos that Ruby was a very strict mom. And that's an understatement. In one video, which she posted in 2020, her then 15 year old son, Chad mentioned that he'd been sleeping on a bean bag and
instead of a bed for the past seven months. And this isn't because they didn't have a bed. It was a punishment for playing pranks on his brother. He literally got his bed taken away. Now, obviously, this generated a huge backlash online. A lot of users protested that depriving a child of a bed to sleep in is not just discipline. It's cruel.
The criticism was severe enough that Ruby had to make public statements about Chad sleeping on the beanbag. She told reporters with Business Insider that there was additional context that her viewers didn't get.
And furthermore, according to Ruby, Chad had chosen himself to sleep on the beanbag. He liked it. Around this time, another video of hers drew a lot of criticism. There's one clip in particular that's really alarmed a lot of viewers. Ruby posted about how her daughter Eve forgot to bring her lunch with her to school. I did this. I'm sure we've all done this.
When Eve's teacher called Ruby to let her know, she then refused to bring the food to school. She said this was a learning opportunity for her daughter. Ruby actually said, and this is a direct quote,
My hope is she will be hungry and come home and be like, that was really painful being hungry all day. I'll make sure to always have a lunch with me. Now, I hope it goes without saying that withholding food from a hungry child is not a reasonable disciplinary method.
But again, Ruby had plenty of justifications for her behavior. She claimed that she didn't find out about the forgotten lunch until the school day was almost done. If she'd brought the food over, she'd get to school just in time for Eve to come home and eat her after school snack anyway. Still, people were angry about what she'd posted. Child Protective Services visited her Utah home after the public outcry became too loud.
Whatever they saw, it wasn't enough to justify any further action. And Ruby's videos kept going up on her eight passengers channel. Apparently the lure of 2.5 million followers was just that irresistible. And the criticism she faced actually made Ruby double down. In 2021, she gave an interview this time with the rap. She said her videos showed quote, what a responsible mother looks like. Now,
Now, strangers on the internet weren't the only people who worried about Ruby's children. Her own husband, Kevin, apparently objected to her parenting. Admittedly, I don't know if it was a good idea
I don't know that for sure, but I do know the couple eventually separated and later filed for divorce. In his paperwork, Kevin said they had a difference of opinion about their family parenting. Now, before they got to the point of separating, Ruby and Kevin enrolled in couples counseling with a therapist named Jodi Hildebrand. Now, Jodi ran a therapy program called Connections. That's spelled with an X.
Reportedly, Jodi's advice was for Ruby to be even stricter with her children. She also recommended that Ruby and Kevin separate. Supposedly, this would actually save their marriage in the long term. So Kevin and Ruby followed her suggestion. They legally separated and Kevin stopped talking to his kids and to Ruby entirely. But that wasn't the end of Ruby's relationship with Jodi. In fact, it
It was just the beginning. Ruby and Jodi moved in together and they collaborated to release podcast episodes. Like Jodi's therapy program, their podcast was called Connections. So essentially this therapist said, actually divorce your husband, move in with me, and then we will host a podcast about how to be strict parents.
And on this program, Ruby's public statements were even more incendiary. She touched on controversial issues like politics and religion. And some of Ruby's comments made it seem like she didn't think eating disorders were a big deal. And she victim blamed sexual assault survivors.
But as bad as all of these soundbites sounded, nobody realized how severe her home situation with her husband now gone is.
actually was. That wasn't until August 30th, 2023. So all of us who were watching this unfold through our screens were like, "Oh, this mom's a little weird." And now they've gotten divorced and she's spending a lot of time with this other lady, this therapist, and they talk about really strict parenting styles, but little did we know what was going on behind the scenes.
That day, August 30th, one of Ruby's children, 12-year-old Russell, climbed out of their house's window and ran to a neighbor's house.
As soon as the neighbor saw him, Russell asked them to call the police. Not that they needed much prompting. See, Russell was dangerously skinny. There were visible injuries on his body and his hands and legs had duct tape stuck to them. Yes, her children, who we were all watching through the screen saying, this seems unhealthy, now ran to the neighbors with injuries and duct tape saying, please call the police.
Russell wouldn't say why he was taped up. He just claimed that it was his own fault, which is heartbreaking. Later, it would come out that Ruby had tried to convince Russell that he was evil or possessed. She'd tortured him supposedly because she thought it would help him turn from his wicked ways.
that involved holding his head underwater and kicking him one especially harsh punishment involved handcuffing russell's hands and putting another pair of handcuffs on his feet then she tied the handcuffs together tightly so he couldn't lie flat on the ground because his bindings didn't have enough give and she made him do manual labor during the summer and wouldn't let him have anything to drink
If the dehydrated boy snuck some water, she'd punish him for it. She also withheld food and water from his sister, Eve. This is the same girl who didn't get to eat lunch that one day. Her punishments also involved manual labor, walking on dirt roads barefoot. And more than once, Ruby forced Eve, her daughter, to jump onto a cactus as punishment.
Sadly, Russell's mother told him that he and Eve were being punished for their own good. She said this so often that he actually believed he was evil. This is what he's telling his neighbors. It's absolutely heartbreaking. But thankfully, he saw through her manipulation a little bit enough to escape and ask for help. As soon as the police arrived, they sent Russell to the hospital. It was obvious he needed emergency treatment. And before the day was over, they'd arrested both
both Ruby and Jodi. Ruby's oldest daughter, Sherry, who had kind of extracted herself from her family at this point, posted about the arrest on Instagram to celebrate it. She announced that the abuse at the hands of her mother had been going on for years. And later on, Jodi's niece said something similar in an interview that they were abused while they lived with their aunt years ago.
So these two evil moms had just got together, abusing their kids and started a podcast about it. It's been a really interesting experience watching everyone focus on Ruby and I understand why. But this is Jodi. These are Jodi's words. These are Jodi's ideas. These are over decades old. Jodi and Ruby both eventually pleaded guilty to four charges of child abuse each.
Months later, on February 20th, 2024, Ruby and Jodi each got their sentences during separate sessions. And this kind of just barely happened at the time I'm recording this. But the ruling was the same for them both. In her hearing, Ruby actually broke into tears. She expressed regret but didn't take much responsibility for her own actions.
She mostly blamed Jodi for her own behavior, arguing that Jodi had manipulated her into becoming this abuser, which didn't fit with what Ruby's older children had said, that this abuse had been going on for years. Ruby also described herself as a mother duck. She said she did what she did because she just wanted so badly to keep her little chicks safe.
If she thought she was earning sympathy points, she was wrong. She and Jodi were each sent to prison for 1 to 15 years for each count of child abuse. Since they pleaded guilty to four, that meant the sentence was a minimum of four years and a maximum of 60. Now, because of some legal complications, Ruby won't end up spending more than three decades in prison. But still, we can hope her incarceration will bring peace to her children and everyone else she and Jodi hurt will
along the way through their podcasts because our words do have impact. Ruby didn't just abuse her children, although that would be bad enough on its own. She also posted videos promoting her harmful parenting strategies. And Jodi encouraged her listeners and patients to mistreat their own relatives.
Who knows how many people bought into what they were saying. We can only hope that their verdict sends just as strong of a message that children deserve to be loved, not tortured.