Chad Franke is sharing his truth nearly two years after the arrest of his mother, YouTube family vlogger turned convicted child abuser, Ruby Franke.
Chad, Ruby’s eldest son with ex-husband Kevin Franke, recently sat down for Tay and Taylor Lautner‘s The Squeeze podcast, where he opened up about the last time he talked to his mom.
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Chad, 20, revealed that he hasn’t spoken to Ruby since shortly after her arrest in August 2023, when she and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were taken into custody in Utah and each charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse.
Ruby, 43, and Hildebrant, 55, later pleaded guilty to four charges of aggravated child abuse, and in February 2024, they were each given four consecutive sentences of one to 15 years in prison.
During his recent interview with the Lautners, Chad detailed his last conversation with his mom, which began with a phone call just about a week after she was arrested.
At the time, Chad said his mom was “still in the mindset” of thinking her actions were “right,” whereas he had come to realize that his mom’s actions were “wrong.”
“So I’m trying to help her see what she did,” Chad recalled, adding that their conversation was “the first time anyone had ever fought back on her, at least someone who’s close to her.”
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“She told me, she said, ‘I hope God tells you who I really am,'” Chad remembered, noting that they were talking in “very spiritual ways” throughout the convo. Then a few days later, his mom called again and was “bawling” crying.
“She’s like, ‘I thought about everything you said, and you are completely right. And you know, no one has ever talked to me that way the way you talk to me. I’ve realized what I’ve done is wrong.”
However, Chad said that even though he told his mom he loves her, and although she was “extremely apologetic” throughout their last conversation, “It doesn’t mean I should have a relationship with her right now.”
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