Yahoo Lifestyle At 14, Shari Franke Started Her Own YouTube Channel — Why She Now Considers Family Vlogging Unethical
A recent episode of the 'Celebrity Book Club' podcast discussed what happened when Shari asked her mom for a shoutout on her 8Passengers channel
sharilfranke/Instagram; Gallery Books
Shari Franke and new memoir The House of My Mother.In Shari Franke's new memoir, The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom, she opens up about growing up the daughter of Ruby Franke, who documented her childhood on her YouTube channel 8Passengers to 2.5 million subscribers. The Utah YouTube vlogger was arrested for aggravated child abuse and sentenced to four consecutive prison terms of one to 15 years in February 2024.
Claire Parker and Ashley Hamilton discussed the book on their Celebrity Memoir Book Club podcast, including what happened when a young Shari Franke tried to launching a YouTube channel of her own. In her memoir, Franke writes there were times growing up where her mother was filming that made her feel uncomfortable, such as when her and her sisters went bra shopping.
"As I got older, I think I was 18 and we went bra shopping — me, and my sisters and Ruby — and she was filming it. And it was the first time that I was like, 'Oh, this is kind of weird and inappropriate and I'm not okay with that,'" she says.
When she was 14, Franke decided to launch her own channel. Her motivation came down to “one reason, money.”
At the start, Franke was looking to gain subscribers and asked Ruby for a shoutout from 8Passengers, that had 2.5 million subscribers at the time. But her mom's response was “no shortcuts.”
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“If you wanna build a channel, build a channel the way I build a channel,” her daughter recounted.
When Franke’s birthday came, Ruby gifted her a tripod and gave her a shoutout from the family’s 8Passenger channel. But after that, she declared she would be taking 10% for "management fees" from that point on.
“I nodded, not fully grasping the mom tax concept,” Franke writes. “You really think you would have ever started a YouTube channel, let alone a successful one without my help? You owe me Shari,” Ruby said to Franke, at the time.
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“I felt a knot form in my stomach. On one hand, mom had a point,” Franke writes. “Her influence had undeniably boosted my channel. On the other hand, it felt like she was cashing in on my hard work.”
Franke was disowned by Ruby shortly before she was arrested and no longer considers Ruby her mother.
"Part of me feels guilty if I don't forgive," she says. "But I've come to realize that forgiveness for me just means that I don't let her actions consume my thoughts."
Today, Franke is critical of family vlogging as a practice and still feels guilt today over using her siblings in her YouTube videos.
“I exploited my own siblings doing shaving videos with my sisters and talking about periods because I knew it would get views,” Franke wrote in her memoir. “The guilt eats at me now. But back then, I was just following the blueprint. This is what people like. This is what makes money.”
“I’ve witnessed the damage of what happens when your life is put online,” she told PEOPLE. “There’s no ethical way to do it.”
And today, she's stepping away from social media altogether. Franke announced the beginning of a new chapter in an Instagram post with a photo of an engagement ring, Saturday, Dec. 28.
“I’m excited to share that I’m engaged!” she wrote, sharing a photo of her hand adorned with a pear-shaped diamond ring.
“This is the end of me sharing my private life," she explained. “I’ve had my voice and agency taken for so long, and now, I’m putting my foot down. I’m not going to talk about my wedding, future husband or future kids.”
“I’ll continue to advocate for kids who didn’t have a voice (so you’ll still be seeing me, don’t worry) but this is closure for me,” she continued in the post. “I’m moving on with my life, and that’s true freedom and joy ❤️.”
“Please respect my privacy and the privacy of my future family, and don’t speculate or pry,” she wrote. “This is my wish, and my gift to my family.”
The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom is now available, wherever books are sold.
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