YouTuber mom Ruby Franke and husband Kevin secretly separated 13 months ago over 'a difference of opinion about their parenting' before her arrest for child abuse

YouTuber Ruby Franke secretly separated from her husband Kevin 13 months ago over ‘a difference of opinion about their parenting’ before her child abuse arrest.

Ruby, 41, was charged with six counts of felony child abuse after her 12-year-old son was found with open wounds and duct tape on his limbs.

She was arrested along with business partner Jodi Hildebrandt on August 30 on aggravated child abuse charges.

Kevin’s attorney, Randy Kester, claimed that the 44-year-old father didn’t see his children and wasn’t aware that Ruby had moved them to Ivans, Utah, about four hours from Salt Lake City, Law & Crime reported.

Kester claimed that Ruby had been ‘controlling Kevin emotionally because she knew how much he valued their marriage.’

YouTuber Ruby Franke secretly separated from her husband Kevin 13 months ago over ‘a difference of opinion about their parenting’ before her child abuse arrest

The 41-year-old was charged with six counts of felony child abuse after her 12-year-old son was found with open wounds and duct tape on his limbs

‘It was his desire to be able to get back with the family and preserve his marriage,’ Kester told the outlet.

‘Kevin never had any reason to believe that his children were being abused.’

Speaking to Page Six, Kester said he couldn’t comment on the marriage as he didn’t represent Ruby but confirmed the pair were still legally married.

The Utah-based attorney also claimed that their marriage began to fall apart after Ruby started working with Hildebrandt. 

‘[He says] she manipulated him in conjunction with Ruby, that she’s kind of the spearhead toward essentially destroying his life and destroying his family,’ Kester shared.

In her first public appearance last Friday Ruby (pictured) was a contrast to her picture perfect social media presence as she learnt that she and her partner would remain behind bars without bail

Kevin is working to regain custody of his minor children who remain in the custody of the state.

Ruby and Hildebrandt were arrested on two counts of aggravated child abuse in late August and have since been slapped with an additional four counts after being locked up. 

In her first public appearance last Friday, Ruby was a contrast to her picture perfect social media presence as she learnt that she and her partner would remain behind bars without bail.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Ruby’s family revealed that they hope she’ll be ‘put away forever’ while distancing themselves from their estranged relative.

Ruby’s sisters-in-laws Cynthia and Jennifer Franke said they believe the abuse allegations against the mother-of-six adding that they were ‘shocked’ and ‘sickened.’

During a court appearance last week Ruby made astonishing claims that one of her minor children sexually abused one of their siblings and other children. 

‘I don’t know what to believe from her. I think she’s lying,’ Cynthia said. 

‘She’s putting the blame on her two kids to validate what she did to her children. At this point I think she’ll say anything to save herself.’

Kevin (pictured) is working to regain custody of his minor children who remain in the custody of the state

Cynthia, who is the wife of Ruby’s husband Kevin’s older brother Alan, said: ‘we had no idea what was going on in the family.’

Jennifer Franke, 42, who is married to Kevin’s brother Aaron, said: ‘Ruby isn’t really my cup of tea. I’ve never really liked her from day one. She always thought she was better than anyone she’s around.’

‘If you look up narcissist in the dictionary, there will be a picture of Ruby.’

Jennifer wanted to make it clear that her family is ‘not affiliated’ with Ruby, adding that they have gotten a lot of hate since the arrest. 

‘None of us Frankes knew about any of the abuse,’ she said, adding that she hasn’t seen Ruby or Kevin in about a decade. 

Jennifer added that the rest of the Frankes looked down on Ruby for starting her popular YouTube channel 8 Passengers.

Ruby and Hildebrandt have both been previously criticized for their teachings on parenting – collaborating on Hildebrandt’s life counseling service ConneXions.

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Jennifer said the family heard that Jodi moved into the Franke family house between 2021 and 2022.

She said she heard at some point, Ruby and Kevin started to go to Jodi and her company for marriage counseling.

‘It was cult. Kevin was in a men’s group at ConneXions, he had a checklist of what he needed to do to be better and if you did they would praise you and if you didn’t they would chastise you,’ she said.

‘When Jodi moved into the family’s Springville marital home, one of the first things she did was separate Ruby and Kevin, it was almost like the movie War of the Roses.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Ruby’s sisters-in-law Cynthia (left) and Jennifer Franke (right) say she’s lying and ‘saying anything to save herself’

‘Ruby was living on one side of the house and Kevin was living on the other. Kevin couldn’t talk to Ruby unless Jodi was present.’

Kevin moved out last July 2022. He lived in a townhouse near the family home where he had a minder from ConneXions that would stay with him at the townhouse and watch over him.

Jennifer said that Ruby and Kevin’s oldest child Shari, 20, came to her and said she wasn’t allowed to speak to her father. 

‘Shari told us that Kevin was kicked out last July 2022, at the time we never knew about Jodi and the influence she would have on the family.

‘At the time Shari told us, ‘My dad wont talk to me. He wouldn’t take phone calls answer emails etc.”

She continued telling Jennifer, ‘My dad thinks he’s a horrible person, they (Ruby and Jodi) have him brainwashed believing he is a bad person.’

‘Shari tried contacting her father after he moved out, but he blocked everyone on social media, his cell phone, email.

‘I feel bad for Kevin, he’s like almost brainwashed. I feel sorry for him.’

‘I’ve known Kevin since he was 11-years old, he’s a good guy. Ruby and Jodi brainwashed him into moving out and abandoning his family.

‘After Ruby was arrested my husband called Kevin and told him if he needed anything to let him know. Kevin responded by saying, ”gaslighting is real. This is messed up.”

‘In some ways I think Kevin to an extent is also a victim, he was always the more nurturing one in the relationship.

‘I keep asking myself, why didn’t Kevin go back for his children. I have to believe none of us know the entire story.’

Ruby first rose to fame for her strict parenting style which blew up online and made her ‘millions’ of dollars, she claimed. 

Ruby Franke’s Springville, Utah, home is pictured . ‘Ruby was living on one side of the house and Kevin was living on the other. Kevin couldn’t talk to Ruby unless Jodi was present,’ Ruby’s sister-in-law said 

Ruby (left), who ran the now-defunct 8 Passengers channel, was arrested along with her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt (right) on August 30

She racked up more than 2.2million subscribers for documenting their day-to-day endeavors on social media, along with husband Kevin. 

The pair stopped uploading videos in January 2022 and the 8 Passengers page was taken down completely from the website earlier this year. 

When asked why she left YouTube behind – months later she said she opted to stop uploading videos because she wanted to ‘save her kids.’

In July, she was called out online after video surfaced of her allowing her daughter to go hungry after the young girl had forgotten to make her own lunch before school. 

In a video posted in 2020, Ruby said her daughter’s teacher had texted her, telling her that the youngster didn’t have anything to eat for lunch.

She said all her kids are responsible for preparing their own lunches in the morning, so she would not be dropping off any food for her daughter to teach her a lesson. 

Ruby said: ‘My hope [is that] she will be hungry and come home and be like ‘that was really painful being hungry all day I’ll make sure to always have a lunch with me.”

‘The natural outcome is that she is just going to have to go hungry.’

It was this parenting style that helped the women gain notoriety and a massive following on YouTube.