Son of convicted YouTuber Ruby Franke shares graphic...

Chad Franke speaks out in Hulu’s new documentary, ‘Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke’. Chad Franke, the oldest son of YouTube family vlogger and convicted child abuser, Ruby Franke, has opened up about the torment he experienced at the hands of his mother.

Image Credit: The Independent [Ruby Franke was sentenced to up to 30 years in prison in February 2024]

Hulu released a three-part docuseries titled Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke on Thursday, where members of Ruby’s family — including her soon-to-be ex-husband Kevin, her oldest daughter Shari, 21, and Chad, 20 — discussed what life was like in their home leading up to Ruby’s arrest.

During episode one of the three-parter, Shari and Chad discussed what would happen when their mother’s camera wasn’t on them. “I did always feel bad when he got in trouble,” Shari said about her younger brother. “He'd get a bloody nose and I'd bring him toilet paper and didn't really know what to do.”.

Chad recalled that many of his punishments stemmed from not wanting to listen to adults and said there were times when Ruby “blew up off camera.”. “She would spank, whip, take the belt out and whip my butt. Pull down my pants, whip me,” he said.

Shari said that Chad was beaten so badly that she had to help him “clean [his] blood off the walls” on one occasion. Last year, Ruby and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were sentenced to up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse, including trying to convince Ruby’s two youngest children that they were evil, possessed by demons and needed to be punished. Ruby’s four minor children were taken into the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services.

After Ruby was arrested in 2023, she admitted to several horrific acts, as shown in a statement filed in court to support her guilty pleas, which said she abused two of her children from May 22, 2023, until her arrest in August. She said that she tried to convince two of her children that they were evil and possessed and that the “punishments” were a form of repentance. She described the abuse as “acts of love.”.

Traumatic details revealed that she forced her son into long physical tasks outside in the summer without shoes or adequate water, leaving him with “repeated and serious sunburns.” He was also denied sufficient food, and when he was given food, they were very plain meals while the rest of the household got more flavorful food, the plea agreement said.