The husband of family YouTube star Ruby Franke has filed for divorce, three months after the Mormon mom-of-six was charged with aggravated child abuse.

Kevin Franke, 44, who co-starred in the couple's 8 Passengers parenting channel, secretly separated from his wife 15 months ago over 'a difference of opinion about their parenting'.

Shortly after her arrest his lawyer claimed he had been kicked out of the couple's family home in Springville, Utah, when Ruby, 41, launched a new life-coaching channel with 'mental health counsellor' Jodi Hildebrandt.

The two women were arrested together and charged with six counts of felony child abuse after police found the Franke's 12-year-old son Russell deeply emaciated, injured and bound with duct tape at Hildebrandt's home on August 30.

'Kevin did not want to be separated,' lawyer Randy Kester said last month.

Kevin Franke, his wife Ruby and their six children during their YouTube heyday as stars of the smash hit parenting vlog 8 Passengers

The couple racked up 2.5million subscribers and more than a billion views of their parenting  

Ruby Franke and her co-accused fellow YouTuber Jodi Hildebrandt are now in jail facing six chargers each of aggravated child abuse 

'He wanted to work through concerns as a family. The separation was under terms proscribed by Ruby and Jodi Hildebrandt.'

The couple racked up more than one billion views and made 'millions' from the YouTube channel they launched in 2015 where she documented their family life, home schooling, and tough parenting style.

But fans became increasingly uneasy at scenes in which she withheld food as a punishment from her children, told them Santa would not bring them anything, threatened to bin their items if they didn't buy them from her, and in one case threatened to behead a stuffed toy.

One viewer called child protective services in 2020 after their son Chad, 15, revealed that he had been kicked out of his bedroom and forced to sleep on a bean bag for seven months.

With the channel losing viewers', the couple stopped uploading videos in January last year and Ruby launched a new channel with Hildebrand called ConneXions, in which the two women would offer relationship, parenting, intimacy and self-improvement advice.

Hildebrandt, 54, moved into the family home in the summer of last year and Kevin moved out with his lawyer claiming last month 'they had a difference of opinion about their family parenting'.

Jennifer Franke, 42, who is married to Kevin's brother Aaron, said the couple received marriage counselling from Hildebrandt, and Kevin moved to a townhouse near the family home where he had a minder from ConneXions to watch over him.

'It was cult,' she told Dailymail.com.

'Kevin was in a men's group at ConneXions, he had a checklist of what he needed to do to be better and if you did they would praise you and if you didn't they would chastise you,' she said.

The family blew up on social media after beginning to post videos in 2015

Ruby Franke is seen with her four daughters: Shari (red coat), Eve (gray dress), Julie (pink coat), and Abby (black coat)

Franke's '8 Passengers' van with an '8PSNGRS' license plate

But Ruby became close with mental health counsellor Jodi Hildebrandt and they launched a new channel on YouTube together 

Ruby billed herself as a 'certified mental fitness trainer' and the pair would offer relationship, parenting, intimacy and self-improvement advice

'When Jodi moved into the family's Springville marital home, one of the first things she did was separate Ruby and Kevin, it was almost like the movie War of the Roses.

'Ruby was living on one side of the house and Kevin was living on the other. Kevin couldn't talk to Ruby unless Jodi was present.'

Jennifer said he was also banned from talking to the couple's children, with the couple's estranged oldest child Shari, 20, saying her father had been 'brainwashed'.

'My dad thinks he's a horrible person,' Jennifer quoted Shari saying.

'They have him brainwashed believing he is a bad person.'

Earlier this month Hildebrandt's niece claimed her aunt was the 'mastermind' behind the 'abusive' parenting tactics and said that she had endured the same treatment.

Jessi Hildebrandt said she was tied up, had duct tape placed over her mouth, was blindfolded, isolated for twelve hours out of the day and even forced to sleep outside in the snow when living with her aunt as a child more than a decade ago.

Police visited the Franke household in September 2022 after a neighbor had called to report that Franke had left her children alone for several days to spend time with Hildebrandt.

A police officer noticed the children, but they refused to answer the door, according to a police report obtained by NBC News.

But by the time of her arrest Ruby had moved the children, allegedly without Kevin's knowledge, to Hildebrandt's hometown in Ivens, in the far south-west of the state.

Kevin and Ruby Franke's home in Springville, Utah , was the setting for many of their videos

Kevin reported his estranged daughter Shari (right) to police for an alleged burglary at the family home the day after his wife's arrest 

Hildebrandt's home in Utah where Russell Franke, 12, was reportedly tied up and starved 

It was there on August 30 that police found the 12-year-old with open wounds and his sister, 10, both in an emaciated condition, before seizing the couple's other children from Ruby's home nearby.

They also found ropes, bandages, handcuffs and a mixture of honey and cayenne pepper with which Hildebrandt allegedly treated the boy's wounds.

'Finally,' Shari posted on Instagram, 'I've been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this.'

But Shari had the police called on her the following day when her father accused her of 'burgling' the family home in Springville.

Springville Police Department said it was they who had broken the door, explaining to Kevin that it was damaged when the search warrant was served.

Shari returned three tablets, three cell phones, three cameras, journals and three passports to police who passed them on to her father.

But Kevin allegedly threatened to sue the police department after they refused to charge his daughter with any crime.

Police said Shari's intent was 'not to deprive him of any items, she had previously been allowed in the home, and he had not been in the home for 13 months.'

In court, Ruby claimed that one of her young children had sexually abused a younger sibling and molested 20 other family members and children in the neighborhood for years.

'I don't know what to believe from her. I think she's lying,' said Cynthia Franke, the wife of Kevin's older brother Alan.

'She's putting the blame on her two kids to validate what she did to her children. At this point I think she'll say anything to save herself.'

'After Ruby was arrested my husband called Kevin and told him if he needed anything to let him know,' Jennifer said.

'Kevin responded by saying, 'gaslighting is real. This is messed up'.

'In some ways I think Kevin to an extent is also a victim, he was always the more nurturing one in the relationship.'

In an order on Wednesday the 4th District Court of Utah ordered the couple not to harass each other, commit domestic violence against each other or the children, or disparage each other to their children.

Hildebrandt has voluntarily surrendered her mental health counselling license since her arrest, and Kevin is working with Utah State Senator David Hinkins to tighten up the law governing counselling qualifications.

'She manipulated him in conjunction with Ruby,' said Kester.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Ruby's sisters-in-law Cynthia (left) and Jennifer Franke (right) say she's lying and 'saying anything to save herself'

'She's the spearhead toward essentially destroying his life and destroying his family.

Abby, Julie, Russell and Eve - the four youngest children are currently in the custody of child protective services. 

Ruby, who billed herself as a 'certified mental fitness trainer' on YouTube is being held without bond along with Hildebrandt as they await dates for their next court appearance.

'I keep asking myself, why didn't Kevin go back for his children,' said Jennifer.

'I have to believe none of us know the entire story.'

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