Hulu released a documentary entitled Devil in the Family, which was based on the horrors of the popular family vlogger channel “Eight Passengers”. The documentary is centered around mother Ruby Franke and her eight children, documenting their conservative Mormon lifestyle in Utah. Directed by Olly Lambert, the documentary unveils the dark truths of family vlogging, detailing the vicious child abuse inflicted on her children and Ruby’s questionable relationship with infamous family counselor Jodi Hilderbrant. The documentary additionally includes immense commentary from the family’s neighbors; her husband, Kevin Franke; her eldest daughter, Shari (21); and her son Chad (20). The show also briefly dives into the aftermath, exploring Rubi Franke’s sentencing and imprisonment.
The documentary begins with the rise of the family through their playful vlogs depicting their everyday, quaint lives in Springfield, Utah. Franke’s channel was made in 2015, yet it only started to take off in 2019 and 2020 as viewers began to fall in love with Franke’s lifestyle, parenting methods, and family endeavors. One of their videos centered around Ruby’s eldest son, Chad, entitled, “Officially Hit Puberty,” nearly hit three million views. The video’s candid and authentic nature began to draw in more viewers, eager to see their life. However, in 2021, the once-beloved family vlogging channel began to face mass criticism and speculation from former fans who were questioning the wellbeing of the children. In a particular video, Chad criticized his mom for making him sleep on a bean bag in the basement as punishment. Fans’ concerns grew rapidly, and Franke’s downfall ensued. Sophomore Anabel Ramsey commented, “I was appalled while I was watching the [documentary]. Although I was never a real fan of the channel, my sister and I would watch family vloggers frequently, and they would come up with many views. I probably would have never guessed what was going on behind the scenes, let alone as kids.” Generally, family vloggers’ intended audience is children. This can mean that abusive behavior is highly overlooked since the audience is impressionable children and not adults.
Additionally, the documentary explores the relationship between Hildebrant and Ruby. Ruby wholeheartedly believed that her children were demons and evil entities, and that God had given her the role of “purifying” them; this segwayed into severe abuse and physical restraint. Ruby and Hilderbrant’s new found relationship served as a catalyst to further exploit and abuse her children. To Ruby, her family issues were expanding, so she called in Hildebrant to help “fix her family.” Kevin described their relationship as “uncomfortable” and believed it encroached upon normal boundaries. Together, Ruby and Hildebrant co-founded the “Moms of Truth,” where they discussed strict and restrictive parenting techniques. At this point, the ideology that Ruby must eradicate demons (her children) became further engrained in her mind due to Hildebrant. Moreover, Franke began to isolate herself from her family, believing she was doing “God’s work.” Ramsey commented on Ruby and Hildebrandt’s relationship: “Although this relationship did somewhat push Ruby to abuse her children more severely, from what I have watched, Ruby was already crazy; Hildebrant just normalized her behaviors.” Ramsey explained that Ruby was always abusing her children; she just began to do it more inconspicuously. From here on, the smaller children, Russel (12) and Eve (9), were subjected to starvation, beatings, and running in extremely hot weather. Ruby’s ideology normalized child abuse, religious abuse, and inhumane punishment of children. Ramsey continued, “The show amazingly entailed the horrific abuse they endured, without sugarcoating it, which I think is important. Although it’s hard for me to personally understand why she would mistreat her children to that degree, the documentary does a great job of explaining Franke’s sick and twisted motives.”
Lastly, the documentary interviews Chad and Sharie. The siblings thoroughly described what their mother was like, and where their current relationship stands with her today. Chad recalled heart-wrenching physical abuse. During an interview in the documentary, Chad said, “There were times that she blew up off camera. She would spank, whip, take the belt out and whip me.” He also corroborated his fans’ speculations about him sleeping in the basement for months on end. He described an impenetrable sense of betrayal from his mother, leading to his detachment from her. Shari also provided great details of the abuse and shared a similar perspective. Shari described her mother as the director and her siblings as actors in Ruby’s world of “perfect little lives.” “It was like living on a set. Everything had to be clean, white, camera ready. We weren’t a family—we were a brand,” she explained.
Junior Nycolet Altamirano commented on the fear factor of the documentary. The show has a great deal of shocking and horrific scenes, capturing the abuse hidden in plain sight. She explained, “I was horrified watching some of the scenes, especially the part when the police got a warrant to investigate Hildebrant’s home. A shocking detail to me was that these children were literally duck taped in the basement—duct taped! It is like a real-life horror movie!”
“The show highlights many ongoing issues with family vloggers,” junior Shameen Pirzada said. Adamant about her interest in these types of shows, Pirzada expressed, “Yes, I would watch this show. I am really interested in shows that expose these family vloggers because the truth is they are hiding in plain sight. This also brings up an alarming hunger for fame in this age of social media. As the vloggers start posting content and blowing up, they gain a desire and appetite to increase those followings, sponsorships, and views, which can put a child star or influencer in danger of being exploited.”
