Hulu’s new documentary, ‘Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke’, takes an in-depth look at the Franke family, including new video clips and interviews with Ruby Franke’s husband and two eldest children
A new documentary charts the disturbing decline of Ruby Franke, a once-prominent ‘mommy vlogger’ who is currently serving a staggering 60-year sentence for child abuse.
The series, titled ‘Devil in the Family: the Fall of Ruby Franke,’ features a newly-released clip wherein Ruby chillingly instructs her young son to ‘fake being happy’ to maintain the facade of her video.
Contributing over 1,000 hours of unaired footage, the Franke family provided substantial content to Hulu, exposing the stark contrast between Ruby’s curated on-screen ‘perfection’ and the grim reality behind the scenes.
The documentary, available on Hulu and Disney+, begins with the disturbing footage of the moment when Ruby Franke’s young son arrived at a neighbour’s house, pleading to be taken to the authorities. “I do believe Satan is a person,” Shari Franke narrates in the opening minute of ‘Devil in the Family: the Fall of Ruby Franke’, as the camera zooms in on her younger brother, captured on a Ring doorbell camera.
In one snippet, Ruby is seen asking her son Chad where his name comes from, when he does not reply enthusiastically enough she tells the child: “Be excited to tell them where your name comes from. Even if you have to fake it. Fake being happy.”
Another segment captures Ruby snapping at another child off-camera, before turning back to address a visibly disturbed Chad with an irate demand. She said: “If I’m going to spend all my time helping you, you’re gonna help me too,” complete with a menacing finger gesture.
The Franke family saga, previously explored in various documentaries, has been cast in a new light with fresh video footage and candid interviews. Kevin Franke, the father, along with his eldest children Chad and Shari, who has recently wrote a book about her experiences, offer an intense glimpse into their lives and how they now view the past events, reports the Mirror US.
In the spotlight is a video clip featuring Chad, who confessed that there were times he ‘truly’ despised his mother as he grew older and yearned for freedom to hang out with friends instead of filming YouTube videos.
Chad was placed into therapy by his parents, where they were introduced to Jodi Hildebrandt, later known as Ruby Franke’s accomplice in the abuse. Unaware of the full extent of their siblings’ suffering, both Chad and Shari faced their own ordeals; Chad was ‘sent out of the home’ at 17, while Shari left as soon as possible.
Chad details his experience with ‘Hildebrant treatment,’ recalling how he initially attended therapy to “get rid of her” but was quickly confronted by Hildebrandt’s challenging approach.
Speaking about his abuse, Chad said: “She gave me an option to sleep in the living room or go down in the basement and sleep on the little beanbag. I slept on that bean bag every night for seven months. And that was my bedroom. The basement.”
The documentary then cuts to a pivotal video that catapulted Ruby Franke to even greater notoriety. In it, she confesses on camera to taking away her son’s bedroom for seven months. However, this admission sparked a “torrent of pure hatred”, as Kevin puts it, with numerous others creating videos condemning the punishment as appalling.
Franke frantically tried to remove the video, but the damage was done. It would take a few more years for Franke to be arrested.
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