The movie “Mormon Mom Gone Wrong” is “garbage,” says Ruby Franke’s daughter Shari

A TV movie about Ruby Franke, the Utah parent-influencer convicted of aggravated child molestation, is set to premiere this month – and Franke’s estranged eldest daughter has called the film “trash.”

“Mormon Mom Gone Wrong: The Ruby Franke Story” is scheduled to debut this Saturday at either 6 p.m. or 9 p.m. mountain time on Lifetime, depending on which cable and satellite system you use — and can be found on Hulu and other streaming services Sunday .

Shari Franke, the eldest of Ruby Franke’s six children, posted on her Instagram Story on October 4: “None of us have been contacted about the film. The proceeds do not go to the children.”

“I suddenly saw the trailer in class and had an anxiety attack,” wrote Shari Franke. “This film is trash and will only hurt my siblings even more. Please do not support this film.”

Publisher Simon & Schuster announced Oct. 15 that it will publish Shari Franke’s memoir “My Mother’s House” on Jan. 7 under its Gallery Books imprint.

According to the publisher, the book, subtitled “A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom,” will “describe the hidden abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother and how she found freedom and healing in the face of unimaginable pain.”

Shari Franke, now a student at Brigham Young University, testified before a Utah legislative committee last Wednesday and described herself as a “victim of family vlogging.” She urged lawmakers to consider the ethical and financial issues that arise from being a web influencer, especially when putting your family in front of the camera.

“There is never a good reason to put your children online for money or fame,” Shari Franke said, according to a report from FOX 13. “There is no such thing as a moral or ethical family blogger.”

The Lifetime film arrives 15 months after Franke’s then 12-year-old son escaped from Franke’s business partner Jodi Hildebrandt’s Ivins home and asked a neighbor for help. Police officers soon found Franke’s then ten-year-old daughter in the house. Both children were malnourished, police said.

The discovery of the children and what Washington County District Attorney Eric Clarke called a “concentration camp-like atmosphere” in Hildebrandt’s home led to Franke and Hildebrandt being sentenced to prison about six months after their arrest. Each pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse and were each sentenced in February to prison terms of between one and 15 years per count – meaning both must serve at least four years in prison.

Lifetime’s promotional materials for the film describe how Franke, her husband and their “six adorable children” were part of the YouTube channel “8 Passengers,” which the network describes as “a web series documenting the group and Ruby’s everyday life “ referred to [Latter-day Saint]-influenced parenting style.”

Franke’s “perfect life,” Lifetime publicists wrote, “took a turn for the worse when Ruby’s marriage counselor Jodi Hildebrandt … entered her life.” The description continues: “Jodi and Ruby’s views on disciplining children were not ‘strict parenting’ but actually abuse.”

The film stars Emilie Ullerup, a regular on the Hallmark Channel series “Chesapeake Shores,” as Franke. Heather Locklear, best known for her starring role in the 90s nighttime soap “Melrose Place,” portrays Hildebrandt. The film was shot in Canada earlier this year.

A Lifetime spokesman said Friday the network would not provide a copy of the film to critics before it airs.

The film is one of six Lifetime true crime movies “Ripped from the Headlines” scheduled to premiere this fall. It’s the same series that produced “The Gabby Petito Story,” a 2022 TV movie that retells the true story of a Florida travel vlogger who was killed by her boyfriend in Wyoming shortly after the couple drove through Utah .