Ruby Franke’s eldest daughter Shari makes bombshell announcement ahead of tell-all book about twisted mommy blogger

The eldest daughter of disgraced YouTube star Ruby Franke has made an announcement about the horrors she faced at the hands of her mother just days before she releases her tell-all book.

Shari Franke, 21, shared a photo on Instagram last week showing a ring on her manicured left hand – as she announced her engagement and told her 621,000 followers that she will no longer share details about her personal life.

“I’m happy to share that I’m engaged!” wrote the children’s rights activist. ‘For me, however, this is the end of sharing my private life.

“My voice and agency have been taken away for so long and now I’m putting my foot down,” she continued. ‘I’m not going to talk about my wedding, future husband or future children.

“I will continue to advocate for children who have no voice (so you will still see me, don’t worry), but this is closure for me. I’m moving on with my life and that is true freedom and joy,” Franke clarified.

“Please respect my privacy and the privacy of my future family and do not speculate or mess around. This is my wish and my gift to my family.”

Shari has long claimed that her mother exploited her and her siblings in an attempt to gain views on YouTube.

Ruby, now 42, was eventually arrested for aggravated child abuse of her 12-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter in what prosecutors described as a “concentration camp-like setting,” and was sentenced in February to a maximum of 30 years in prison. years in prison.

Prosecutors explained in court how the YouTube sensation, who provided parenting advice to her 2.5 million subscribers, subjected her children to horrors including starvation and forced her son to suffer severe sunburn from working outside for weeks without adequate protection.

She also told her two youngest children that they were “evil and possessed” and tied up her son’s wrists and ankles while holding his head underwater.

During Franke’s trial, jurors were shown disturbing doorbell camera footage that showed her son arriving at a neighbor’s house in chains, asking for help and directions to the police.

The emaciated and badly bruised 12-year-old had just escaped from the home of Franke’s business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, police said.

Images shown in court also showed the two emaciated victims with infected cuts on their legs, duct tape around their arms and feet and scratches and bruises on their bodies.

During the course of a subsequent investigation, police discovered a cramped safe room in the basement of the house that was locked from the outside, rope that would be used to tie up the children, and adult diapers.

The boy also told police that his mother and Hildebrandt would dress their wounds with honey and cayenne pepper, both of which were later found in the house.

Prosecutors also alleged that the young children were forbidden from socializing with others and were hidden in the home when people came to visit.

By the time police arrived at Franke’s home, Shari said she feared the worst.

“My first thought is that my brothers and sisters are dead,” she said recently told PEOPLE, while promoting her new memoir, The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom.

In the book, out Tuesday, Shari describes what happened when she once called child protective services in an attempt to protect her young siblings.

‘Ruby’s face twisted in anger and pain. “I can’t believe you called the police,” she began, her voice rising. “After everything I’ve done for you, after all the sacrifices I’ve made. How can you betray me like this, Shari? How can you be so selfish?” reads an excerpt from the tell-all.

‘”Selfish?” I repeated, finding strength in my voice. ‘I was worried about the children. They were alone for five days, Mom. Five days!’

“I’m fine,” Ruby snapped. ‘They are old enough to take care of themselves. This is about you, Shari. Your jealousy, your need for attention.’

“I felt a bubble of hysterical laughter rising in my throat,” Shari wrote. “How could she turn this around and make it about me? But wasn’t that always her way?’

“This isn’t about me,” I said, my voice sounding firmer than I felt. “It’s about doing what’s right.”

Ruby’s eyes flashed dangerously. ‘What’s good? You have no idea what is good. You’re just a kid playing like you’re an adult. Your siblings are now terrified of you because you called the police.”

Ruby’s face hardened and her lips twisted into a grin. “One day, Shari, you will crawl to me. Begging for forgiveness. And it will be hard for me to give it to you, but I will be gracious.”

“I’m not going to apologize for telling the truth,” I said in a calm but firm voice.

But in Ruby’s videos, the family always seemed happy and healthy, Shari previously testified before Utah’s Business and Labor Interim Committee.

‘I come today not as the daughter of a criminal, nor as the victim of an abnormally abusive mother. I come today as a victim of family vlogs,” she told lawmakers as she called for further protections for child influencers.

‘It’s more than just filming your family life and putting it online. It is a full-time job, with employees, corporate credit cards, managers and marketing strategies,” Shari explains.

‘However, the difference between family vlogging and a normal company is that the employees are all children.’

She then shared some of her most traumatic experiences as a child influencer.

“Some of our most popular videos were where I accidentally got my eyebrow extracted and the whole world saw a crying teenager who just wanted to grieve in silence,” she said.

‘Or the time I was seriously ill and was given 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.’

Shari added: “If I could go back and do it all over again, I’d rather have an empty bank account right now and not have my childhood plastered all over the internet. No amount of money I have received has made what I went through worth it.”

Now that she’s releasing her memoir, Shari tells PEOPLE she doesn’t think her mother will “ever understand or understand what she did.”

“I just hope she can get the help she needs,” Shari said.