Sherry Franke
Appearances
Serialously with Annie Elise
244: Cultfluencer: The Dark Side of YouTube’s ‘Perfect’ Mom | Ruby Franke Devil in The Family
I don't come today as the daughter of a felon, nor as a victim of an abnormally abusive mother. I come today as a victim of family vlogging. My goal is not to present any idea of a solution to this problem, but to shed light on the ethical and monetary issues that come from being a child influencer. When children become stars in their family's online content, they become child influencers.
Serialously with Annie Elise
244: Cultfluencer: The Dark Side of YouTube’s ‘Perfect’ Mom | Ruby Franke Devil in The Family
It is more than just filming your family life and putting it online. It is a full-time job with employees, business credit cards, managers, and marketing strategies. The difference between family vlogging and a normal business, however, is that all the children are employees.
Serialously with Annie Elise
244: Cultfluencer: The Dark Side of YouTube’s ‘Perfect’ Mom | Ruby Franke Devil in The Family
Children from before they are born to the day they turn 18 have become the stars of family businesses on YouTube, Instagram, and other social media platforms. Utah is specifically a hotspot for family content due to the LDS culture around family and the goal to share the church with the world. We also have large families, which makes family content more lucrative.
Serialously with Annie Elise
244: Cultfluencer: The Dark Side of YouTube’s ‘Perfect’ Mom | Ruby Franke Devil in The Family
Specifically, many parents film their regular family life as an online video blog called a vlog. But I want to be clear that there is never, ever a good reason for posting your children online for money or fame. There is no such thing as a moral or ethical family vlogger. At first, family vlogging is an alluring business that can bring high revenue.
Serialously with Annie Elise
244: Cultfluencer: The Dark Side of YouTube’s ‘Perfect’ Mom | Ruby Franke Devil in The Family
For my family, it became the primary source of income, as is often the case with most full-time family bloggers. Many child influencers are paid for their work, as I was, and this money has helped me in my adult life. However, this payment was usually a bribe. For example, we'd be rewarded $100 or a shopping trip if we filmed a particularly embarrassing moment or an exciting event in our lives.
Serialously with Annie Elise
244: Cultfluencer: The Dark Side of YouTube’s ‘Perfect’ Mom | Ruby Franke Devil in The Family
Or other times, simply going on vacation was expected to be payment enough because most kids don't get to go on regular and expensive trips, never mind the fact that the child's labor is actually what paid for the vacation or trip. There is no law in place to guarantee that child influencers get any money from their work.
Serialously with Annie Elise
244: Cultfluencer: The Dark Side of YouTube’s ‘Perfect’ Mom | Ruby Franke Devil in The Family
If a family account does not become an LLC, parents are taxed heavily for paying their children. But parents also receive tax write-offs for the regular clothes that they wear, the gas money used to drive places, and even the houses they live in. Anything that is filmed can be written off. And even after registering their business as an LLC, there is no guarantee that children will get paid.
Serialously with Annie Elise
244: Cultfluencer: The Dark Side of YouTube’s ‘Perfect’ Mom | Ruby Franke Devil in The Family
any payment that does happen is under the table with no paper trail and how do we determine how much a child should make from appearing in family content what price is worth giving up your childhood but despite any monetary payment children may receive don't let this excuse the 24 7 labor that these children are subjected to as a child i was fully aware that i was an employee the business was successful when i was happy or when i shared my hardships with the world
Serialously with Annie Elise
244: Cultfluencer: The Dark Side of YouTube’s ‘Perfect’ Mom | Ruby Franke Devil in The Family
Some of our most popular videos were when my eyebrow was accidentally waxed off and the whole world saw a crying teenager when I just wanted to mourn in private. Or the time I was violently ill and got the leading role in the video that day. My friends became scarce because dates were filmed and none of my friends wanted to be on camera.
Serialously with Annie Elise
244: Cultfluencer: The Dark Side of YouTube’s ‘Perfect’ Mom | Ruby Franke Devil in The Family
The camera never stops and there is no such thing as a break from filming. At the time, I tell you I had a choice in what was filmed, but I've come to learn that every child influencer, in a way, suffers from Stockholm Syndrome.
Serialously with Annie Elise
244: Cultfluencer: The Dark Side of YouTube’s ‘Perfect’ Mom | Ruby Franke Devil in The Family
Most child influencers would probably tell you they have full control over what is posted, but the reality is that their parents bribe and shame them into posting their most vulnerable moments. In fact, many child influencers may tell you that they enjoy their work because of the monetary perks they receive or the fun experiences that they can have.
Serialously with Annie Elise
244: Cultfluencer: The Dark Side of YouTube’s ‘Perfect’ Mom | Ruby Franke Devil in The Family
After all, what child would say no to a fun vacation or shopping spree if all they needed to do was film an embarrassing moment? But as children, we do not understand the consequences of filming our lives and posting it for the world to see. Now the fact that it is 2025 and there are still no regulations really with family vlogging
Serialously with Annie Elise
250: Kevin Franke: “This is A Story of Love” | Is He Still Protecting Ruby Franke?!
I've seen him with her and he likes her.
Serialously with Annie Elise
250: Kevin Franke: “This is A Story of Love” | Is He Still Protecting Ruby Franke?!
When I was younger, around like five, six, like Ruby was really physical, like, you know, whether it was like a slap to the lip or slap to the cheek. When I would practice the piano, you know, like her hand would slam and like it was really scary.
Serialously with Annie Elise
250: Kevin Franke: “This is A Story of Love” | Is He Still Protecting Ruby Franke?!
When I was younger, around, like, five, six, like, Ruby was really... physical, whether it was a slap to the lip or a slap to the cheek. When I would practice the piano, her hand would slam, and it was really scary.
Serialously with Annie Elise
231: Ruby Franke's Steamy Love Affair with Jodi Hildebrandt? | Shari Franke's New Memoir "The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom"
Sometimes I'll see myself in the mirror and I'm like, oh my gosh, I look like her, or I sound like her. but I don't want to be anything like her.
Serialously with Annie Elise
231: Ruby Franke's Steamy Love Affair with Jodi Hildebrandt? | Shari Franke's New Memoir "The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom"
When I was younger, around, like, five, six, like, Ruby was really physical. Like, you know, whether it was, like, a slap to the lip or a slap to the cheek. When I would practice the piano, you know, like, her hand would slam, and, like, it was really scary. And honestly, when she met Jodi, that kind of stopped.
Serialously with Annie Elise
231: Ruby Franke's Steamy Love Affair with Jodi Hildebrandt? | Shari Franke's New Memoir "The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom"
I could for sure. I could feel a shift. I was like, oh, Jodi, like, you know, I don't like her, but maybe this is one good thing that's come from it is she's not yelling. She's not hitting us anymore. But it did become more psychological and in a way that was more damaging to me.
Serialously with Annie Elise
231: Ruby Franke's Steamy Love Affair with Jodi Hildebrandt? | Shari Franke's New Memoir "The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom"
I certainly got weird vibes from Jodi and Ruby. I don't think it's normal at all that a therapist would move in to her client's home. I was moving out to college, and I hadn't even left the house yet, and she is in my room and in my bed.
Serialously with Annie Elise
231: Ruby Franke's Steamy Love Affair with Jodi Hildebrandt? | Shari Franke's New Memoir "The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom"
Ruby tried to be secretive about it, and so I don't know all the details, but just the vibes that I was getting was that something was strange between them.
Serialously with Annie Elise
231: Ruby Franke's Steamy Love Affair with Jodi Hildebrandt? | Shari Franke's New Memoir "The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom"
I never saw anything specific about that.
Serialously with Annie Elise
231: Ruby Franke's Steamy Love Affair with Jodi Hildebrandt? | Shari Franke's New Memoir "The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom"
I think that she's as sorry as she can be. What she has done is so bad that I don't think her mind allows her to kind of fully comprehend the guilt of all that. And so I think that she probably genuinely believed everything she said. I don't believe it, though. Sherry now trying to turn her pain into purpose.
Serialously with Annie Elise
231: Ruby Franke's Steamy Love Affair with Jodi Hildebrandt? | Shari Franke's New Memoir "The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom"
I'm happy without you." Like, I was scared of her for so long, and I am pure without her approval, and I am just fine.
Serialously with Annie Elise
231: Ruby Franke's Steamy Love Affair with Jodi Hildebrandt? | Shari Franke's New Memoir "The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom"
Forgiveness is something I've had to, like, study a lot and kind of think about what it means. But for me, forgiveness would look like not letting that consume every moment of my life and all of my thoughts. I am just trying to move on with my life and trust that things are gonna work out the way they're supposed to.