At the urging of the ex-husband and eldest daughter of imprisoned “momfluencer” Ruby Franke, the state of Utah is taking action to protect future child content creators.
According to the Associated Press, Utah Governor Spencer Cox recently signed a bill into law requiring online creators who make more than $150,000 a year from content featuring children to set aside 15 percent of those earnings into a trust fund that the kids can access after turning 18. The new law also creates a pathway for children to have posts and videos they’re in removed.
Kevin Franke, who filed for divorce from Ruby following her August 2023 arrest, was a major proponent of the legislation. “Children cannot give informed consent to be filmed on social media, period,” he said this February. “Vlogging my family, putting my children into public social media, was wrong, and I regret it every day.”
Ruby, Kevin, and their six children—the former faces of the popular YouTube channel 8 Passengers—are among the most prominent cases of family vlogging gone wrong. Ruby and family counselor Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested in Ivins, Utah, and later convicted of child abuse. Authorities discovered the women had subjected two of Ruby’s children to mental and physical mistreatment, including starvation and confinement, at Hildebrandt’s home. Both women are serving consecutive terms spanning 4 to 30 years in prison.
The shocking case became the subject of the recent Hulu docuseries Devil in the Family: The Ruby Franke Story as well as a 2024 Lifetime TV movie titled Mormon Mom Gone Wrong: The Ruby Franke Story.
After Ruby’s case made national headlines, many have pondered where Kevin and their children are now. Here’s what we know about their lives since Ruby’s arrest.
Kevin Franke advocated for child welfare reform
Kevin filed for divorce from Ruby on November 30, 2023, roughly three months after she and Hildebrandt were arrested. Kevin wasn’t charged in relation to the criminal case. His legal team has asserted he separated from Ruby more than a year before to her arrest and had no knowledge of the abuse. Their divorce was finalized this March, roughly 25 years after they married.
Prior to their separation, the Frankes began seeing Hildebrandt for marriage counseling in 2021. Kevin said that the following year Hildebrandt instructed the couple to separate in order to help their marriage and also ordered him to cut off communication from nearly everyone in his life.
Kevin gave his first public comments about the abuse case in July 2024. Speaking during a meeting of Utah’s Child Welfare Legislative Oversight Panel, he urged lawmakers to pass legislation addressing loopholes in the state’s child welfare laws that prevented authorities from intervening after neighbors and the couple’s eldest daughter reported concerns about the Franke children. He also called for the regulation of life coaches such as Hildebrandt, whom he said “preyed on the vulnerable, those who were seeking help.”
When asked by reporters how much blame he assigns Ruby, Hildebrandt, or authorities for the abuse, Franke declined to specify and compared the saga to “a giant trainwreck.”
“When you approach a trainwreck, you can’t partition and say, ‘Well, this part of the mess was due to the wheel coming off the track, and this part of the mess was due to this or that,’” he said. “In my view, in my perspective, it’s all just a giant mess. I’ll leave that to you, the reporters and the investigators, to do the digging and find that out.”
Per the terms of their divorce agreement, the former engineering professor at Brigham Young University now solely owns the Springville, Utah, home where the ex-couple once lived with their family. A local TV news station also reported Kevin was granted ownership of a 2.8-acre property in Scofield, about an hour southeast of Springville.
Ruby’s children are “light-years better”
Ruby and Kevin have six children—Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve—born between March 2003 and September 2013. According to People, four of the Franke children were placed into child protective services after Ruby’s arrest. Kevin later regained custody of the kids, who are still minors. “[Kevin] is making an effort to rebuild and bridge these relationships rather than sling mud and point fingers,” his attorney Randy Kester told Today in September 2023.
In March 2024, the case’s lead prosecutor Eric Clarke gave an update on the condition of the two youngest children subjected to the abuse at Hildebrandt’s home. “I think people should know that the kids have put on weight. They’re interacting, happy and healthy,” Clarke, the district attorney in Utah’s Washington County, told NewsNation. “It’s not like they’re great, but they’re light-years better. And thank heavens for that.”
Per AP, 11-year-old Eve recently provided a statement to lawmakers asking them to protect other child creators from exploitation. “I’m not saying YouTube is a bad thing. Sometimes it brings us together,” she wrote. “But kids deserve to be loved, not used by the ones that are supposed to love them the most.”
Shari Franke wrote about Ruby in her book
The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom
Now 22 and engaged, Shari released a best-selling memoir The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom in January 2025. She detailed some of her interactions with Ruby prior to her arrest in the book. One confrontation occurred after Shari, who was already estranged from her mother by that point, contacted child protective services to check on the welfare of her siblings.
Ruby allegedly told her: “You’ve always hated me. Ever since you were five years old, I could see it in your eyes. The way you looked at me, the way you judged me. You’ve never appreciated everything I’ve done for you, all the sacrifices I’ve made.”
“That’s not true,” Shari responded. “I never hated you, Mom. I was just scared of you.”
In an interview promoting the book, Shari also said Ruby was “really physical” with her in childhood, sometimes slapping her on the lip and cheek.
Shari has been outspoken about her family’s safety and privacy, most notably criticizing the made-for-TV movie Mormon Mom Gone Wrong that debuted in October 2024. She called the film, starring Emilie Ullerup as Ruby and Heather Locklear as Hildebrandt, “trash” in an Instagram post. “None of us were contacted about the movie. None of the proceeds are going to the kids. This movie is trash and only hurts my siblings more,” she wrote.
Both Shari and her brother Chad spoke publicly about their experiences for the Hulu documentary Devil in the Family.
Shari says vlogging “ruined my innocence”
Like Kevin, Shari has voiced her concerns about family vlogging and its effects on children. She spoke at a Utah Senate committee hearing in October 2024, detailing her experience as a child influencer on 8 Passengers. The 22-year-old told lawmakers she lost friends because of the “24/7” work required to create content for the channel and feels regretful that her best and worst moments in childhood were made public online.
“I don’t want people to look at me and blame my unique circumstances, with a mother in prison, to the Franke criminal case,” she said. “Family vlogging ruined my innocence long before Ruby committed a crime. I promise you that my experiences are not unique and are happening to child influencers all over Utah and the country.”
Utah now joins Illinois, California and Minnesota among states that have passed legislation regarding financial protection for children and teenagers featured on social media.
Kevin has said he is proud of his daughter’s strength in confronting her family’s past. “She has played and will continue to play a crucial role in the healing of our family,” he said in a statement to ABC News. “I am grateful for her example and learn a lot from her vulnerability and courage. She has a powerful voice and will make a positive impact in this world. I love my daughter.”
Shari, who once had a YouTube channel of her own before shuttering it, has recently decided to put up more boundaries on sharing her personal life online. In a December 2024 Instagram post sharing the news of her engagement, she wrote: “For me, this is the end of me sharing my private life... I’m not going to talk about my wedding, future husband, or future kids. I’ll continue to advocate for kids who didn’t have a voice (so you’ll still be seeing me, don’t worry) but this is closure for me. I’m moving on with my life, and that’s true freedom and joy ❤️.”
Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor and is now the News and Culture Editor. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams.
