‘There’s Still A Lot of Pain’: Ruby Franke’s Husband Speaks Out for the First Time

Kevin Franke, the soon-to-be ex-husband of mommy vlogger Ruby Franke, is speaking out for the first time since Ruby was arrested and pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree felony child abuse. The comments come ahead of the release of a new Hulu documentary Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke. 

“Life right now for me is getting back into, I would say, a comfortable normal,” Kevin told People in a new interview. “It’s just establishing a new normal. [It is] more normal than it’s been in years. But there’s a long way to go.”

It’s been almost two years since Ruby and Jodi Hildebrandt, the family’s therapist and Ruby’s close friend and mentor, were arrested on charges of felony child abuse. The creator of YouTube channel 8 Passengers, Ruby was known online for her Mormon faith and strict parenting style — which included taking the doors off her children’s rooms when they misbehaved and often withholding meals. But in August 2023, she and her podcast co-host Jodi were arrested by Utah police after Ruby and Kevin’s then-12-year-old son escaped Hildebrandt’s house with injuries and ran to neighbors to ask them for help. After their arrest, Ruby agreed to a plea deal in December 2023, which detailed the systematic abuse of two of the children. Ruby confessed to cutting off her son’s oxygen, tying his wrists and ankles, withholding food, and forcing both her son and daughter to do physical labor as punishment— all in the hopes of driving out evil from them. During her sentencing, Ruby said that Hildebrandt’s therapy teachings and beliefs brainwashed her into a “dark delusion.” Hildebrandt also pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse. The shocking allegations and admissions left the family vlogging community — and Kevin — reeling from the ordeal.

“There’s still a lot of pain,” Kevin said. “There’s still a lot of healing that I work on each day, but it just looks and feels different now.”

Kevin and Ruby were married when she began listening to Hildebrandt’s advice — and he tells People that, at one point, Hildebrandt instructed Jodi to ban him and their older son Chad from the house entirely. Kevin said he followed the rules of the separation because he wanted his family back but noted that Hildebrandt’s instructions concerned him. 

“We were both really indoctrinated that we needed complete isolation in order to heal. And that if we were interacting with anybody that was contrary to the messaging that Jodi…and Ruby wanted us to accept and ingest, then we were being selfish, and we were breaking the boundaries and the rules of the separation,” he said. “I really believe that [Ruby] was damaged severely by swallowing the teachings that Jodi just was serving up for her.” 

Franke’s arrest and subsequent revelations of abuse have been headline fodder since the mommy vlogger’s arrest in 2023. Her daughter, Shari Franke, released a memoir in January called The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Shocking Quest for Freedom. She told Rolling Stone around its release that the book was her way to discuss her mother once and then close a chapter on that traumatic part of her life. “Writing the book was a way to take back my privacy, as strange as that sounds,” she said at the time. “The reason that I wrote this book is, ‘Hey, everyone, here’s how I feel. Please don’t speculate and leave the rest alone.’” Kevin, Shari, and Chad are all interviewed in the documentary Devil in the Family.

“Ever since the arrest of Ruby. I have been working tirelessly to help my children, my family, and myself heal,” Kevin told Rolling Stone in a statement in January 2025.