All language subtitles for devil.in.the.family.the.fall.of.ruby.franke.s01e01.720p.web.h264-skyfire

[doorbell rings]

[♪ unsettling music playing]

[speaker]
In my own journey over the years,

I think I've come to understand evil

in a way that most people don't.

Things that people don't talk about.

And I do believe that Satan is a person.

[door opening]

[♪ unsettling music continues]

[speaker] What Ruby has done,

it just crossed a line
of abusive to just...

psychotic and full-on evil.

[♪ stirring music playing]

[reporter 1]
A woman who rose to fame on YouTube

with her videos
on parenting, childcare, and marriage

is charged
with six counts of felony child abuse.

But how did we get here?

[reporter 2]
Ruby Franke was arrested last week

along with her business partner

after Franke's 12-year-old son
escaped through a window

and ran to a neighbor's house
pleading for food and water.

Police say
the boy was severely malnourished

and had lacerations from being tied up.

[♪ stirring music continues]

[reporter 3] The house the boy says
he escaped from: Jodi Hildebrandt's.

[reporter 4]
Hildebrandt has also been arrested

and charged
with six counts of felony child abuse.

[reporter 5] In the journal,
Ruby describes her children

with words like, "Demon,"
"Devil," "Possessed,"

insisting that they must repent.

All of this comes after mounting questions
over possible missed warnings.

Her husband, Kevin, seen here
in one of Ruby's many social media videos

now fighting to clear his own name.

[Kevin Franke]
In many ways, we were the perfect family.

But the devil knocked

and we opened the door.

[♪ music fades out]

[♪ gentle music playing]

[speaker 1] We're both from Springville,
so we both were raised here.

[birds chirping]

I mean, we have fond memories

of being best friends
with our neighbors growing up.

And so that's exactly
what we wanted for our kids.

[♪ gentle music continues]

But also, it's perfection.

[speaker 2] It-- It just feels idyllic.

[lawn mower engine humming]

And it's a place we'd never
worry about having our kids out late.

You know, it's just peaceful and quiet.

People watching out for each other, so...

[Kristin Collard]
This neighborhood is so close.

They call this Happy Valley.

People typically don't move.

They house hop.

[interviewer] Why do they stay?

Just an amazing group of people.

[speaker 3] It's a great community.
I live here myself.

And a lot of people are happy
in Happy Valley.

In s-- in many ways,
it's a great place to live.

And they truly are happy.

[interviewer] There's a but.

[laughs] Bu-- There is a but.

Uh, they truly are happy,

but... they...

[sighs]

Hell, I, I gotta be careful what I say.

They truly are happy but they...

are stuck in a box.

There's a bubble
and there's a certain culture here,

a culture of perfectionism,

wanting to look a certain way,
wanting to be good,

wanting to be more perfect.

And the reason why
is because Utah is the capital

for the Mormon Church.

[♪ sullen music playing]

Mormons are taught

that in order to get
to the highest degree of glory,

you should strive for perfection.

And we are always supposed
to be doing missionary work

to show the world
how perfect our lives are.

[speaker 4]
This is the most important work.

To join the conversation
by participating on the internet...

[Brannon Patrick]
And so Utah has become the epicenter

for family vlogging.

[overlapping voices on videos]

Just by sharing their lives on camera,

they're thinking they're doing God's work.

[voices fade out]

There are about 53 Saturdays in a year.

[marbles clattering]

This jar is holding 100 marbles.

This jar is holding 100 marbles.

[clears throat]

[marbles clattering]

Okay, so the last tip that I have
for calendaring is remembering--

My last tip for--

I always ask myself
when I schedule a weekend,

- is what I scheduled worth--
- [faint chattering]

[yelling] Hey, I'm still recording!

Come on!

[♪ solemn music playing]

Why am hearing all this noise?!

[Kevin] In our church, in our faith,
we were raised to believe

that the ultimate thing
that you can become in this world

is a parent.

I-- I am a busy mom of six children
and I am always on the go.

[Kevin] And Ruby's sole ambition
was to be seen as the perfect mom.

It's all she talked about.

It's all she focused on.

But she wasn't getting
enough praise and attention for it.

And so she decided
she was going to create a YouTube channel.

And when she sets her mind to something,

hell and Earth combined
could not stop her.

And she was going
to make her vlog bigger and better

than everybody else's.

- [birds cawing]
- [dog barking]

- What are we doing?
- [Ruby Franke] What is this?

[overlapping chatter]

It's a cake and inside is the color
of the baby.

So we're gonna find out
if it's pink or if it's blue.

[child] Cut it.

[Ruby] Oh, I'm nervous.

[child] Go.

I hope it's-- [gasps] It's pink!

- It's gonna be a girl!
- [children squealing]

[Ruby] Oh!

[Kevin] Oh!

Yay!

I knew it!

[Kevin] Chad, what do you think?

[children continue squealing]

Staring at it
won't make it turn blue, pal.

[children laughing]

[child 1] Mom,
can I have a piece of the bow?

[child 2] Me too?

[Ruby] Here, you better eat this...

[indistinct chatter]

[Kevin] By this time, we were eight

and so we became "8 Passengers."

Okay. Let's go.

- [♪ bright music playing]
- [yells]

[Kevin] And that was a
powerful metaphor for us.

We're all in this vehicle
together with our family

driving down this road called life.

...in a world
where people just criticize each other

and make each other feel bad.

And we're here to show
that happy families are a reality.

[children yelling and laughing]

I love coming and doing
little simple things with my family

because it just makes
all of my worries go away,

just for a little bit.

[yelling]

Except when they fight.

[speaker 5] We weren't poor.

- [Kevin] Whoa!
- [giggles]

I-I mean, Dad was just-- I remember
he just became, like, a professor

and he just finished his PhD.

But I remember it was definitely like
a very simple but fun lifestyle.

[laughter]

No!

[children squealing]

[Chad Franke] My mom didn't want
anything to be forced.

She just wanted to kinda show the view
of a Mormon happy family.

[Ruby] Happy Easter. We love you.

We're grateful that we get
to make these videos every day

and share our lives with you.

And thank you.

Thank you
for supporting us and being real.

We'll see you tomorrow.

[Chad] She really was the best mom.

Sunday, we would go to church.

The rest of the week, we would have
family scripture study at night,

the Book of Mormon.

[Kevin] Our Heavenly Father,
we give thanks...

We would just say our prayers
and go to bed.

So, i-it was very simple.

Okay, we are here at the church
and just got dressed.

So we're gonna go over and take a picture
of Kevin and [censored] by the font,

'cause your dad's gonna baptize you.

[Kevin grunts]

[Shari Franke]
The first few videos were really rough.

There's some that are upside down.

[Ruby] I'm gonna...

I do remember Ruby starting with videos
of all the kids

and she'd say, you know, "Meet Chad,"
and "Meet this kid."

And I was excited for my video. [laughs]
I wanted to have a video about me.

[Ruby] Shari, tell everybody
what you're talking about.

So when, like,
I was maybe like [censored] age

and Chad was [censored] age,
we came up with a dance.

And we still do it to this day.

[children laughing]

[Ruby giggles]

[Chad] It was mostly me and Shari
just running around, messing around,

and having fun fighting.

[indistinct chatter]

Me and Shari were best friends.

I just remember we would
always play in the crawl space.

There's a little crawl space door
we'd open and--

Playing with dandelions
and running around on the sidewalk, so...

Yeah, it was fun.

[♪ soft violin and piano music playing]

It felt like every video we posted was,
this is the perfect family.

But they only saw
what we wanted to show them.

Ta-da!

[Ruby] Thank you.
You guys, that was beautiful.

[♪ sullen music playing]

[distant chatter and laughter]

[overlapping chatter]

This is-- This is heaven on earth for me.
This is heaven.

Like, life doesn't get better than this.

It just doesn't.

I live for being in the kitchen
with my kids and good food.

Let's have family prayer...

[Kevin] She filmed everything.

Daddy! Daddy!

[Kevin]
And I was so uncomfortable with it.

- Okay.
- [Ruby] You're home.

[children squealing]

Okay, well, I turned the camera on
just long enough so everyone can see you.

Hi, everybody. [chuckles]

- [child] My phone!
- I'm back at work now.

- [Ruby] I know.
- So you'll never see me.

- [child squealing]
- [child] Daddy, Daddy.

[Kevin] When I came in the door,

wherever Ruby was, the camera was.

Many, many of you
in the last several videos have said,

"Can we hear your kids play more?
Can you please sing Christmas carols?

"We'd love to see your family
play some Christmas music

or sing some Christmas carols."

I'm waiting for, like,
to share a conversation with you.

- I'm listening to you talk.
- Ugh.

I'm sorry.

I like to hear Ruby talk.

I'm cutting all of this out.

Help me out here.

- [sighs]
- Um...

I don't know
where you wanted me to come in.

'Kay. Start over again and I'll--

All of a sudden, it wasn't enough
to just interact with her.

I had to interact with the camera.

Here, I'll-- I'll pick in. You ready?

So, one of the traditions that we do...

And she would pull it out
and she would say,

"Kevin, this camera
is millions of people watching us."

I had a neighbor
come over to the house once

and she was standing in the front...

[Kevin] She really wanted me
to be the perfect husband.

The even-keeled
but strong patriarch of the family.

But I wasn't.

I am a nerd through and through.

[tape whirring]

I don't know.

Okay.

I was very insecure with who I was.

[♪ gentle music playing]

And I was willing to change
to become somebody

that somebody else
would appreciate and love.

We met in August of 2000,

but she had about five guys
trying to court her interest.

And so I decided to play dirty.

Inside of her closet,
she had this big table.

All of the rows vertically

were all of the attributes in a guy

that she was looking for.

She had physical attributes like athletic,

she had a ton of attributes

that were related to our religion
and our faith.

And then along the top,
all of the columns were the boys.

And my name was on there. I had a column.

And so I'm just furiously taking notes
and I went home and I studied hard.

I studied that stuff harder
than I did my schooling I think.

We were engaged by October of 2000

and we were married
by December 28, 2000.

[interviewer] It's quite quick.

[Kevin]
Getting married was the ultimate symbol

that somebody else was willing
to commit their eternity to me.

And once I had it,

I was willing to do anything to keep it.

[♪ gloomy music playing]

[birds chirping]

[Ruby] I have never--

I've never had a kid
crawl out of their crib before.

[Shari] What is she doing?

- [Ruby] [gasps] Oh!
- [Shari laughing]

[Ruby] [laughing] Oh, my God!

[Shari] Our first video that went viral,
I guess you could say,

was "Baby climbs out of crib."

[giggling]

[Ruby] I can't believe it!

[Shari laughs]

What am I gonna do with you
if you won't take naps?

[laughing]

[Shari] It felt exciting at the time
for sure.

I felt like I was a little bit famous

and I thought it was
a cool badge of honor to wear.

[Ruby] Someone's waving at us!

Hi, guys! How are you?

[Kevin] Shortly after,
the first paycheck landed in our account.

[interviewer] How much was it?

Like, $85.

[children chattering]

But it felt amazing.

- [♪ bright music playing]
- [laughing]

And that first paycheck
flipped me 180 degrees.

[child] Daddy!

And I wanted more.

[screaming]

[Kevin] 8 Passengers LLC was born.

Woo!

[squealing]

[Shari] The kids were all employees.

Is-- Is how we were referred to,
was like employees

and Ruby was the CEO.

Thank you, guys, for watching.

I gotta put my house back in order.

Thumbs up. Subscribe. Be sure to...

[Kevin] People loved Ruby's personality

and it attracted an audience quickly.

[Ruby] Okay, you guys, just real quick,

don't forget that we are doing a meetup
at CVX Live.

We're meeting all of our viewers

and we're also going to be doing
a super fan experience.

Um, to get tickets, I will leave the...

[interviewer]
Were you surprised by their fame?

I was blown away by their fame.
Blown away.

We went and saw the Broadway play Hamilton

and I stopped to get some candy

and the girl helping me said,
"Are you with Ruby Franke?"

And I was like, "You watch her channel?"

[chuckling] Like, what?

She played it very intelligently.

[photographer] All you kids, come on.
Give me excitement. Ready?

[Paige Hanna] I was always blown away
by her business sense.

[indistinct chatter]

[subscriber count whirring, beeps]

It's just so fitting.

It is so fitting to hit a million

while I'm, like, trying to squeeze in
all of these little things that I'm doing

to serve my family.

Like, my big thing has always been
mothers are powerful.

And it's not the big things that moms do
that make them powerful.

Power comes in the little things.

[sobs] Thank you.

[birds chirping]

[♪ lively music playing]

[Ruby screams, laughs]

[Shari] Watching the subscribers grow
was really big.

And the understanding was that
if Shari or Chad are on the thumbnail,

then the video's gonna do better

than if just Ruby was on it
or the little kids.

Airborne shot!

[Ruby] Woo!

[smacking sound]

[all laughing]

[Shari] Why does he get
so much joy in this?

[smacking sound, laughter]

[Chad] Well, I think I knew very early on

that people liked seeing me the most.

[chuckles] And I think
that's a little selfish of me to say,

but it was also, it was also true.

[Kevin] Just, you know, I want you to
look at this, but don't move.

- Hold perfectly still.
- [Chad yelling]

[Chad] I think I brought
a lot of character into the channel.

[Ruby] I'm helping you!

[Chad] I was very good at being,
like, lighthearted and fun.

- [laughter]
- Three, two!

One!

[children laughing]

But I think just the main reason was
the audience was girls my age at the time.

And I think
they just found me fun and attractive.

And, uh, I'm not complaining.

We're cheerleaders.

[laughter]

[Kevin]
I was living vicariously through him.

He was everything that
I wished that I was when I was a kid.

Confident, handsome, great at sports,

the heartthrob, and the comedic relief.

And that's important.

Ruby knew that.

And she exploited it.

[interviewer] Did you exploit it?

Absolutely, I did.

[Ruby] Let's see if we can show
how thick this wad of cash is.

[Ruby chuckles]

All of that money, all of that payment
came for one reason and one reason only,

my kids.

[Ruby] So smile.

Now look at it, like--
Look at the money.

[Kevin] And we started to watch
the paychecks go

from, like, 2,000 a month

to 8,000 a month, to 20,000 a month.

And at our peak,
a hundred grand or more per month.

[interviewer] So going back,
so you all six kids were employees?

Yes.

[interviewer] And how old
was the youngest employee?

Probably like four or five.

[interviewer]
Did you have any misgivings about that?

'Cause a lot of them were young.

Not at the time.

[machine beeps]

[child 1] We're going to Hawaii!

- [child 2] We're going to Hawaii.
- [child 1] It's a seven-hour flight!

[♪ bright music playing]

[Kevin] I was raised on the idea
of the cosmic vending machine.

Our Dear Heavenly Father,

we kneel as a family this morning.

We're so grateful that we can
have this time together in Hawaii...

It's this idea that I can bargain with
or do business with God.

We've believed
that we were sharing goodness,

Christianity with the whole world.

And in return, God was blessing us.

[Ruby]
I have been, like, overwhelmed

by how many blessings
that we've received in our family.

So many-- Not just today. And not just...

[Kevin] But for Ruby,
it's never been about the money.

- [birds chirping]
- [dogs barking]

- [child] Daddy.
- [Kevin] Okay, go.

Hard for me.

Happy Mother's Day!

[laughing] Come here!

[child squealing]

[laughter]

[Kevin] By this point,
Ruby was effectively America's mom.

"Happy Mother's Day. I hope you..."

[Kevin] And of all the moms
that YouTube could showcase and highlight

and put on a pedestal on Mother's Day,

there was Ruby.

She wanted that more than anything.

And it was effective.

[Ruby] Tell us who you are again.

[Kevin] And she would confide to me

that she was meant to be some
sort of instrument in the hand of God.

[inaudible chatter]

"Roses are red, violets are blue.
I want to spend my life..."

[Kevin] That she was meant
for something bigger than herself.

Everyone look at the camera and I want you
to all say, "Happy Mother's Day."

One, two, three.

[children] Happy Mother's Day.

[mallet banging]

[♪ curious music playing]

[Lisa McClean]
The Frankes, they only lived

the next neighborhood over.

[Ruby] One, two, three.

[all] We sold our house!

[Ruby] Good and I'll do
a little thumbnail of you guys.

[Lisa] They did have
kind of a, a negative reputation

for filming and not asking.

Today is moving day.

[sighs] I can't believe
the day has come where we are leaving.

[Sydney Condie]
YouTube wasn't banned in our house

but we didn't really encourage
our children to watch it.

So we didn't really know of them
until I heard from my niece.

And she messaged me and she was like,

"I think these guys are moving
into your neighborhood."

So then we were-- I think we were like,
"Okay, what-- who are they?"

[door opening, creaking]

Come on in!

This is where our grandkids
are gonna come visit grandma.

And where Kevin's gonna be a grandpa.

Like, this is our grandma home.

You ready?

[Lisa] As a couple,
we both connected with Kevin

and talking with him--

- We never had beef with Kevin ever.
- No, yeah.

Never.
It was always with Ruby and the channel.

[Ruby] [singing] ♪ It's a beautiful day
in the neighborhood ♪

♪ A beautiful day-- ♪

♪ For a neighbor ♪

♪ Would you be mine? ♪

[Lisa]
Anytime they went for a walk,

Ruby would wear the bright dress,

bright lipstick, filming,

and all of our homes
were in the background

and we're just a private community.

To be honest,
Ruby wasn't the most friendly person.

I don't think she really ever had
a major conversation with me

the whole time she was here.

She wasn't hosting parties.

She wasn't trying
to have people come over

for brunch or a ladies' day.

She kinda, I think, kept to herself.

This is better lighting.

[Lisa] She just seemed very busy.

So, I think, for a lot of us,

she just kinda got a reputation
that her channel was more important

than relationships with people.

[child speaking indistinctly]

- Ey!
- Ey!

[Ruby] [laughs] 'Kay, I wanna try.

[Kevin] I tried it.

We were just completely lost
in the fun of it.

[Shari] Hopefully,
there's no cracks in the road.

[all laughing]

But we did see
changes in the kids accumulating.

[child] Let's go inside.

You can use their faces as B-roll.

The kids started
to complain about everything.

Like, "I'm bored.

"We don't wanna film.

We're so tired of doing this."

There's, like, no beach.

It just, like, starts. Water.

[Kevin]
It really began to concern Ruby a lot.

She would describe it as
they were losing their light.

[Ruby]
Do you know that this is what we do?

And everyone gets $10
for a video that they help with.

Do you want $10?

[Shari] Our entire schedule
revolved around YouTube.

And I think
that's where I started to have issues.

[water sloshing]

We always had to keep the house clean.

We changed all the light bulbs
from our yellow shade

to, like, a bright white.

It felt more like a set than a house.

[dishes clinking]

[Kristin] My heart sunk pretty fast

because I started watching
some of the videos and I was ap--

I mean, honestly
"appalled" is the word I have...

- [Grant Collard] Well, it--
- ...of-of-of sharing

such personal information about your kids.

[Chad] That was when I just wanted
to be with my friends.

I really didn't want
anything to do with YouTube.

[door slams]

It bugged the crap out of me.

I-- I hated it.

And there was a time,
maybe even a year or more,

where I truly hated her.

[Ruby] Smile.

Chad, look at me.

[Ruby] 'Kay, let's go back.

But when it came to brand deals
and the sponsorships,

that's what really put me on edge
'cause it felt like a script,

felt like I was being controlled.

I think this one is really good.

It says, "Do you think
your teen's mental health

is more important than school and grades?"

Do you know where I sit with that?

Chad, are you gonna be willing
to help me out or not?

You seem really distant.

[Chad]
I purposefully said the wrong lines.

I purposely tried to make my mom
as pissed as she possibly could.

I made things hard for her
and I don't know why.

I just... [stammers]
I think it just goes back to

I really didn't like
being told what to do.

I wasn't even doing anything bad.

I just wouldn't listen to adults,

especially my teachers.

[sighs]

In May, Chad was expelled from school
and I didn't know what the answer was.

I didn't know where he was gonna go.

And after several discussions
and conversations with him,

we knew that it would be the most
helpful if he had some sup--

some more support, so...

[Chad] Once I started getting suspended,

um, my parents thought
it would be a great idea

if I started getting into therapy.

[♪ pensive music playing]

I think she wanted somebody
that really put the hammer down.

[Kevin] Ruby went to Paige.

Paige effectively said,
"I know the perfect person."

[♪ pensive music continues]

Welcome to
Mentally Fit with Jodi Hildebrandt.

So glad you could join us this morning...

[Paige] Jodi was very
influential in the community.

And when Jodi was teaching,
she could just cut straight to the chase.

So I admired her
and I did look to her as a guru

and, and really found myself
putting her on a pedestal of,

"if I'm going to learn from somebody,
she's a great person to learn from."

The issue is you.
You need to get centered in you.

You become a woman of integrity.

[Paige]
She did come across very knowledgeable.

And she referenced her history.

She was at a very prestigious
drug rehab facility

with a lot of prominent people.

Um, and I-- and I bought it.

[Jodi Hildebrandt]
Truth is love. Truth is love.

And you feel good about yourself when
you use your agency to choose that. Now...

[Brannon] In 2010, I finally got
fully licensed as a therapist.

One of the biggest practices
was Jodi Hildebrandt's practice

in Utah County.

And she invited me to come shadow her.

At first, I... I was actually amazed.

I thought, "Wow, look what she's doing.
This is incredible."

Um, "She's--
She's courageous. She's powerful."

And I was a little bit convinced
that she had it figured out.

I started realizing
that those statements were destructive.

They weren't helpful. They weren't loving.

They weren't kind. They didn't motivate...

[Brannon]
She can speak with authority really well.

When-- When they're looking for guidance
and they're looking for help

and she's coming across as,
"I know how to do this

and I will tell you directly
what you need to do,"

um, people respond to that.

"Hallelujah.
Somebody who's gonna call me on my stuff

and help me move toward
what I actually desire in my life."

[♪ gloomy music playing]

[Jodi] You are gonna learn
how to parent your children

in a way that does not invite them
to live in distortion.

They're going to learn...

[Kevin] Ruby fell in love with everything
that she was hearing and seeing.

So about a month after

was the first meeting
between Jodi and Chad.

[Chad] I remember my mom
telling me that morning,

"Hey, it's gonna be
your first kinda session with her."

And I remember
looking forward to that call,

just to kinda, like, get rid of her.

I'll just put on a happy face, I'll smile,

and this will go away eventually.

And so, I go in my parents' room.

They open up laptops.

I'm kind of in the middle, my parents
are sitting on either side of me.

And the first thing
Jodi said was, you know,

"Chad, it's really good to see you.

"Are you ready to start
living an honest and responsible

and humble lifestyle?"

And I said, "Absolutely, yeah.
Let's get this started," you know?

"I'm so ready to live a responsible life."

And, uh, the first thing she said was,
"You're lying, Chad."

And I went silent.

[♪ pensive music playing]

This random person I've never met before
just said, "You're lying to me, Chad."

And I just remember thinking like,

"Well, yeah, I'm lying to you,
but you just said it?" Like--

And I remember I looked at my mom
and my mom looked at my dad

and my mom kind of smiled a little bit.

Like, she smirked.

She really kinda just read through me.

And, uh, that really excited my mom

that there's finally someone out there
who isn't gonna take my bull crap anymore.

So she was hooked onto her
from that moment on.

Yeah.

[Kevin] Chad just scowled at her.

And after that first call,
Jodi's like, "He needs an outcome.

"He needs an outcome for the way
that he showed up in that meeting.

He's running circles
around you and your wife."

[birds cawing]

[children chattering, laughing]

[Chad] To get me back in line,

they needed to take
everything away from me.

All electronics,
which meant my phone, the Xbox.

No access to sports.

They even sent me to a wilderness camp.

[Kevin] Chad today has just entered

the Anasazi Foundation
Wilderness Therapy Program

where he's gonna spend...

[Chad] My mom was trying everything
she could to fix me,

but I never felt she was doing it for me.

It was like she was doing it for herself.

It got to the point
where she gave me an option

to sleep, like, in the living room

or she gave me the option
to go down in the basement

and sleep on our little bean bag.

I slept on that bean bag every night
for about seven months

and, uh, that was my bedroom,
the basement.

My mom, at some point,
she kind of got teary-eyed

and, uh, she said,
"Chad, this is your last chance.

"Jodi and I have found
a military camp in Virginia

"and we are just waiting
for one more time of you acting up.

"And if that happens,

we're gonna send you there
until you're 18."

And that scared the hell out of me.

That-- That terrified me.

I really shaped up.

I just accepted it very quickly.

I don't know, I think
I really sensed something in my mom,

that realized she's not gonna let Jodi go.

This is how it's gonna be.

This is how it's gonna be from now on.

And, um, I just decided
just to start listening.

[child] Okay.

[Jodi] [over laptop]
I have been where you are,

but you're a child of God

and therefore, I love you.

And if you are living in distortion...

It went from weekly calls with Jodi
to two meetings a week.

She was very kind and considerate,
very understanding.

We had good laughs in our phone calls.

And that's where I tell people,
like, at first,

working with her really wasn't that bad.

Her main focus was for me
to live a more spiritual lifestyle.

Chad's gotten really good
at figuring out truth.

He actually-- So tell me
what you learned yesterday about.

So I had a phone call yesterday
with my therapist

and she taught me
about truth and distortion

and three different types of pain

and, uh, we can feel pain in ways...

[Ruby] Jodi's helped Chad understand

that his happiness isn't dependent
on him getting a phone

or Mom saying yes to things.

We have searched high and low
for a therapist to help Chad see that.

And Jodi is one in a million.

I say that quite literally.

She is one in a million.

And the happiness
that has been in our house,

you can feel it.

I know that you have felt the change
in our home too.

I know it.

[birds chirping]

[hammer banging]

I have no idea what I'm doing.

[Kevin] Behind the scenes,
Chad really was working hard.

Chad's been...
super, super good around his schedule.

[Kevin] He was not complaining anymore
about his sessions with Jodi.

I remember
just thinking like, "He's, he's fixed!

"He's polite. He's grateful.

- This is great."
- [child] Woo!

Okay, grab it.

- Yeah! Grab it.
- [Ruby laughing]

[Kevin] Ruby and I both were like,
"Okay, I think you are ready

to have the privilege back of a bedroom."

That was the spark
that blew the powder keg.

In our house, we--

when we take something away...

- You never--
- ...it's because they have shown

that they are not responsible enough
to manage it.

And so we don't just turn around
and give it back

as soon as they start acting good.

Holy! [snickers]

- Oh my goodness.
- Have I ever given something back

more than six-- less than six months?

- Um, no.
- [Shari] I've had my phone taken away

- for, like, days.
- My bedroom was taken away

for seven months

and then you gave it back
like a couple weeks ago.

[chuckling]
I don't think our viewers know that.

[Shari] You've been sleeping
on a bean bag for the last--

I've sleeping on a bean bag since October.

And they gave me my room back
like two weeks ago.

[Ruby] Mm-hmm.

Um, [censored] phone's been taken away
since Decem--

[♪ tense music playing]

[Kevin] When this video hit,
all hell broke loose.

And all of a sudden,

the algorithm began to recognize,
"Oh, this is a hot topic."

So everyone scrambles.

Ruby takes the video down.

But I think what she was unprepared for

was the torrent of pure hatred
that came through the door.

[Billie] Hey, guys, it's Billie,

today we're talking about the family,
8 Passengers.

This family punished their son
by taking his fucking bed away

and making him sleep on a bean bag
for seven months.

[Billie] The mother, Ruby,
is also being called out

for making her daughter
go hungry at school.

What type of punishment is that?

Because to me,
that's like borderline abuse.

This woman,
I don't even wanna say "parent,"

because that is an insult
to all parents out there.

[Kevin] Ruby was devastated.

You have to remember,
Ruby was America's mom.

[♪ stirring music playing]

And for her, then, to be viewed
as this abusive monster,

it haunted her.

We saw it as an innocent religious family

that's being attacked unjustly
by cancel culture,

and cancel culture is winning.

[♪ music fades out]

[interviewer]
Do you think they had a point?

Any of it valid do you think?

From my perspective now,
is any of it valid?

[breathes deeply]
Sure.

I think a lot of it was valid.

[birds chirping]

[Ruby] Hold on! Hold on.

Oh, what was that look for?

[Ruby] Stop gett-- Just be-- Look.

- [child] Mom.
- [Ruby] Just be yourself.

[Ruby] Well, then, change it.

I've learned
that there was a whole lot of horror

that was going on
in the shadows and behind the scenes.

- [child talking indistinctly]
- [Ruby] When you are--

We're gonna cut that out.

You get down and you be quiet!

This isn't your turn!

Now, sit!

[Kevin] And cut.

Yeah, we're cutting that out.

And it stays...

[Kevin] I had no idea
that this was going on in my family.

- [interviewer] Did you really not?
- [Kevin] Mm-mm.

No. Not to that extent.

[Ruby] Okay. Move it!

If you cut one more thing in my house,

I am going to cut
your cat's head right off.

[child crying]

[Kevin] But I knew
that's how it was modeled for her.

Love is obedience.

But the moment you disobey me,
you're going to fear me.

[Ruby] Sit down right here!

[Kevin] Go sit on the couch.

[Ruby] Sit her down
on the flipping couch!

- [child] Okay.
- [Kevin] Stop hijacking--

[Ruby] Stop it!

[Chad] There were times
where she blew up off camera.

She would spank, whip,
take the belt out and whip my butt,

you know, pull down my pants, whip me.

[Ruby] Chad,
I've asked you to give me a night

where it's enjoyable to be with you.

- [children chattering]
- Chad, take that look off your face

and just be happy to be with us.

[Ruby] Okay. You know what then?

[Shari] I did always feel bad
when he got in trouble.

You know, he'd get a bloody nose
and I'd bring him, you know, toilet paper

and didn't really know what to do.

He got beat really bad one time... [sighs]

and I helped him
clean blood off the walls.

[Ruby] Chad, it is your turn.

- [Chad] Mm-hmm.
- Do you know where your name came from?

Grandpa?

Of course, you know.

Grandpa.

So tell us who you're named after.

Grandpa.

Which grandpa?

- Gr--
- Okay, we're gonna try this again.

You be a little more talkative here.

I am. I'm talking.
I'm answering your questions.

[Ruby sighs]

- [child talking indistinctly]
- Hey, if I hear one more word!

Get out!

[Kevin] [muffled]
Go downstairs and close the door.

[door closes]

- If I'm gonna let you... vlog...
- I don't--

...and if I'm gonna spend
all my time helping you,

you're gonna help me too!

Be excited to tell 'em
where your name came from,

even if you have to fake it.

Fake being happy.

[♪ somber music playing]

'Kay?

- I don't--
- 'Kay, well, I'm gonna take a--

[Shari] Looking back on it,
I don't think she was a good person.

I think she was already
an abusive mother before

and then obviously,
it escalated dramatically

in the last couple years.

[door banging]

And the fact
that Ruby went as far as she did,

I wouldn't blame that on Jodi.

[♪ sullen music playing]

She just set off things in Ruby
that were already in her heart.

[officer] We're just here to talk to you

about kind of a few things
involving your kids.

I'll wait 'til I have a lawyer.

[officer] Okay.

[♪ pensive music playing]

[♪ music fades out]