Shari Frankes memoir starts, fittingly, with an Instagram story.
Just like every forced smile, every staged perfection had been, too.
This nightmare was born on social media it should die there, too.
Courtesy of Simon & Schuster
Police records would laterrevealRubys son appeared emaciated and malnourished, with deep lacerations from being tied up with rope.
Frankes young daughter was found in a similar state.
Both Ruby and Hildebrandt later pleaded guilty to aggravated child abuse and weresentenced tofour to 30 years in prison.
How did the family fall from those heights to the depths of Ruby being charged with aggravated child abuse?
(Representatives for Ruby and Hildebrandt did not immediately respond to requests for comment.)
Reading her words and watching the familys life again was strange.
It felt like it wasnt my life, in a way, Shari says.
It would cut and then the next clip would be, Were happy again, she says.
She was very selective about when she turned the camera off and when she started.
With alarming swiftness, Hildebrandt starts therapy with not only Chad but Shari, Ruby, and Kevin.
At one point, Hildebrandt instructs Ruby to let Hildebrandt take over Shari bedroom.
It was equal parts fascinating and horrific, she writes.
Two women who preached Truth while living lies.
Who condemned queerness very publicly in their ConneXions videos, while embodying it privately.
From my perspective now, I feel like I was replaced with Jodi.
Shari, who by then was attending Brigham Young University, is essentially cut off herself.
Throughout the book, Kevin is portrayed as kindly but incapable.
He could barely keep himself afloat, she writes, let alone throw a lifeline to his drowning children.
Shari and Kevin are working on their relationship, she says, which gets better every day.
It helps that Kevin acknowledges his own mistakes to her.
He doesnt defend or explain involving us in family vlogging, he takes full responsibility, Shari says.
As for her mother, Shari has no interest in a relationship.
There was no mention of the reason she was writing the letter from prison.
Ill never respond to that, Shari says.
I dont feel an emotional tie to her anymore.
She believes that amount should be higher Shouldnt it be 100 percent?
It wouldnt justify it for me, she says.
With thememoir out, however, shes focused on moving forward.
She wants her story to make a difference, especially for other influencer kids.
I hope that, by writing this, child influencers will see that their voices matter, she says.
And that its worth whatever bridges they might burn.
