Shari Franke, the oldest daughter of convicted child abuser Ruby Franke, has spoken out to condemn an exploitative Lifetime movie adapting her family’s story.
Last year, Franke made national headlines after she and Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested on charges of aggravated child abuse. The news shocked the nation, as Franke was a public figure known for running the 8 Passengers YouTube channel. The Frankes were among the first Mormon families to capitalize on YouTube family vlogging. For years, Franke posted her children’s lives online daily, earning over 2 million followers and millions of dollars. At the time of the arrest, though, Franke had stopped posting on 8 Passengers and delved into a new initiative. She joined Hildebrandt to run an organization called ConneXions, which was supposed to give couples and parents life coaching and therapy but has since been accused of being a cult that tore apart families and blackmailed clients.
In August of 2023, Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested after her youngest son escaped from her and Hildebrandt’s home through a window and asked a neighbor for help. He was severely malnourished and had duct tape around his wrists and ankles. It was discovered that Franke and Hildebrandt had starved, detained, tortured, and emotionally abused Franke’s youngest son and daughter in the name of religion. Lifetime gave the family barely a year to heal and navigate the trauma before deciding to adapt the story into a sensationalized movie.
The Franke family condemns Lifetime movie
Recently, Lifetime dropped the trailer for Mormon Mom Gone Wrong: The Ruby Franke Story. The film, set to premiere on October 26, is a dramatization of Franke’s case. Like many true crime movies and shows, the trailer plays out like a psychological thriller to sensationalize the case. Meanwhile, it has chosen to use the real names of everyone involved, including all six of Franke’s children. Aside from the oldest children, Shari and Chad, the children are all minors, and the media has frequently redacted their names from reports to protect their privacy.
However, the trailer uses the exact names while depicting the abuse the minor children suffered. While the trailer quickly garnered over 100,000 views, Shari spoke out to shed light on the situation. In an Instagram Story, she confirmed that the family was not involved and received no proceeds from the movie. Not only were they not involved or asked for permission, but they weren’t even given a heads-up that the movie was happening. Instead, Shari came across the trailer while in a college class and suffered an anxiety attack. She wrote, “This movie is trash, and only hurts my siblings more. Please do not support this movie.”
Almost daily, Shari has been posting Instagram Stories reminding users not to support the movie and to petition to stop its release. She posted one Story that read, “The Lifetime movie CANNOT air. Please help me and help make sure this movie doesn’t get watched or supported.” The most recent one features two cats on top of each other. She labels the cat on top, “Lifetime riding on the backs of our trauma,” while the cat on the bottom is captioned, “My family.”
Lifetime has yet to respond to Shari’s pleas. However, her story has prompted many commenters on the trailer to condemn the movie. True crime adaptations of any kind tend to be met with controversy, but, at the very least, usually, years have passed before a movie or TV dramatization arrives, such as with Monsters‘ take on Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez brothers. It’s even more egregious to wait not even a year to do such a dramatization of one of the worst child abuse cases in modern times. The movie is needlessly forcing a family to relive a trauma so horrific few outside the case can even fathom its profound impact.
Meanwhile, it completely washes away the family and media’s attempts to protect the children’s privacy. Given the YouTube history, the vast majority of people know who the two victims were. However, attempts have been made to give them back the most privacy possible, including wiping photos and videos of them from the internet and not posting their names on social media and news outlets. It felt like the least the media could do after the children were exploited for money online since birth. Yet, Lifetime uses their real names and ensures the story continues to follow them.
The only reason anyone should be sharing the Franke story is to raise awareness for child abuse and exploitation. The case was quite massive in pushing for protection for children of influencers and family vloggers. It demonstrated how egregious it is that YouTube made it possible for two children suffering the most horrific abuse also to be funding their abuser’s luxury lifestyle. It also sheds a necessary light on the dire need for homeschooling regulations and supervision. However, based on the trailer, it’s clear Lifetime is adapting the story for views and entertainment. It is exploiting two children who have already been exploited their entire lives and forcing them to relive a trauma they very likely haven’t had time to come even close to processing.
Published: Oct 10, 2024 04:03 pm