Heather Locklear Stars As Convicted Child Abuser Jodi Hildebrandt in New Ruby Franke Lifetime Film
Heather Locklear's latest project is a harrowing tale ripped straight from the headlines. On Friday, PEOPLE released the first trailer for the upcoming Lifetime film, Mormon Mom Gone Wrong: The Ruby Franke Story, in which Locklear stars as convicted child abuser Jodi Hildebrandt, the business partner of former parenting blogger Ruby Franke. "Together, six adorable kids, a loving husband, and Ruby (Emilie Ullerup) made up '8 Passengers,' a web series documenting the group’s every-day-life and Ruby's LDS-influenced parenting style. To viewers, Ruby had the perfect life, but everything took a turn for the worse when Ruby’s marriage counselor Jodi Hildebrandt (Heather Locklear), entered their lives," the show's official synopsis, per Lifetime, reads. "After Jodi moves into Ruby's home, the environment becomes toxic and Ruby's husband is forced to move out. Jodi and Ruby’s views of disciplining children were not 'strict parenting' but actually abuse." "But when Ruby’s 12-year-old son escaped from Ruby and Jodi’s real-life house-of-horrors with clear signs of abuse, the truth came to light," the synposis concludes. "How could this idolized family-friendly mother of six and her spiritual guide transform into convicted child abusers?" The trailer opens with footage of Franke's success as a parenting vlogger, before she admits that her children are not "perfect," to which Locklear's Hildebrandt voices her desire to step in. "I would like to help," Hildebrandt says, before she then adds to Franke, "My counseling has saved a lot of Christian families... Your children's souls are in jeopardy. Together, we're gonna make them perfect." The footage then shows how Hildebrandt moves into the Franke home. However, her presence in the home begins to cause issues, with Franke telling her husband, Kevin, that Hildebrandt wants them to separate and he can no longer have contact with their children. The clip cuts to Kevin telling a friend, "I have doubts about Jodi's methods." His friend seemingly agrees, saying, "She's using faith to brainwash people." Hildebrandt, meanwhile, claims that she takes "direction straight from God," and declares her plans to stop the family from "living in distortion." "There's only truth and responsibility," she adds over a clip of her holding handcuffs. At the same time, Franke continues to stress her confidence in Hildebrandt. "Jodie is God's messenger," she says in one clip, adding in another, "I believe Jodi." The trailer ends with footage of law enforcement arriving at the home, and a young boy, who is seemingly Franke's son Russell, walking by himself, with the camera panning to the visible duct tape on his ankles. Watch the trailer, above. Both Franke and Hildebrandt were sentenced to up to 60 years each in prison earlier this year in Utah. Both women were arrested in August 2023 on child abuse charges relating to Franke's children, after Franke's then-12-year-old son Russell climbed out of a window from Hildebrandt's home and showed up to a neighbor's "emaciated and malnourished." "If you could take me to the nearest police station," Russell said on Ring camera footage. There were visible marks from tape around his wrists and ankles. According to the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department, police were called by a citizen who reported the child had "open wounds and duct tape around the extremities" and was asking for both food and water. "The condition of the juvenile was so severe that they were seen by Santa Clara-Ivins EMS and transported to a local area hospital," said the release. Police then found Franke's then-9-year-old daughter, Eve, in a similar condition in Hildebrandt's house. Last month, Franke's son, Chad, whose family had featured on the popular 8Passengers YouTube channel, marked the one-year anniversary of his mother's arrest. The 19-year-old shared a series of posts on Snapchat, which were captured by People, including one of his mother that he simply labeled, "Happy Prisonversary." The other is a shot of himself looking reflective, captioned, "A year ago today, I had just gotten off a phone call with Jodi and was going to work a Lifeguard shift." Chad had already moved out of the home before the arrests and there was no evidence of him having been abused. Chad's older sister Shari, 21, who also did not live at the home where the arrests were made, marked the anniversary of Franke and Hildebrandt's arrests on her own social media. "Today has been a big day," she wrote. "Me and my family are so glad justice is being served. We've been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up." According to Franke's estranged husband Kevin, his wife got involved with a group called ConneXion Classrooms through Hildebrandt. Her relationship with the Fr
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"Your children's souls are in jeopardy. Together, we're gonna make them perfect," Locklear's Hildebrandt tells Emilie Ullerup's Franke in the trailer for the film, Mormon Mom Gone Wrong: The Ruby Franke Story.
Heather Locklear's latest project is a harrowing tale ripped straight from the headlines.
On Friday, PEOPLE released the first trailer for the upcoming Lifetime film, Mormon Mom Gone Wrong: The Ruby Franke Story, in which Locklear stars as convicted child abuser Jodi Hildebrandt, the business partner of former parenting blogger Ruby Franke.
"Together, six adorable kids, a loving husband, and Ruby (Emilie Ullerup) made up '8 Passengers,' a web series documenting the group’s every-day-life and Ruby's LDS-influenced parenting style. To viewers, Ruby had the perfect life, but everything took a turn for the worse when Ruby’s marriage counselor Jodi Hildebrandt (Heather Locklear), entered their lives," the show's official synopsis, per Lifetime, reads. "After Jodi moves into Ruby's home, the environment becomes toxic and Ruby's husband is forced to move out. Jodi and Ruby’s views of disciplining children were not 'strict parenting' but actually abuse."
"But when Ruby’s 12-year-old son escaped from Ruby and Jodi’s real-life house-of-horrors with clear signs of abuse, the truth came to light," the synposis concludes. "How could this idolized family-friendly mother of six and her spiritual guide transform into convicted child abusers?"
The trailer opens with footage of Franke's success as a parenting vlogger, before she admits that her children are not "perfect," to which Locklear's Hildebrandt voices her desire to step in.
"I would like to help," Hildebrandt says, before she then adds to Franke, "My counseling has saved a lot of Christian families... Your children's souls are in jeopardy. Together, we're gonna make them perfect."
The footage then shows how Hildebrandt moves into the Franke home. However, her presence in the home begins to cause issues, with Franke telling her husband, Kevin, that Hildebrandt wants them to separate and he can no longer have contact with their children.
The clip cuts to Kevin telling a friend, "I have doubts about Jodi's methods." His friend seemingly agrees, saying, "She's using faith to brainwash people."
Hildebrandt, meanwhile, claims that she takes "direction straight from God," and declares her plans to stop the family from "living in distortion."
"There's only truth and responsibility," she adds over a clip of her holding handcuffs.
At the same time, Franke continues to stress her confidence in Hildebrandt.
"Jodie is God's messenger," she says in one clip, adding in another, "I believe Jodi."
The trailer ends with footage of law enforcement arriving at the home, and a young boy, who is seemingly Franke's son Russell, walking by himself, with the camera panning to the visible duct tape on his ankles.
Watch the trailer, above.
Both Franke and Hildebrandt were sentenced to up to 60 years each in prison earlier this year in Utah. Both women were arrested in August 2023 on child abuse charges relating to Franke's children, after Franke's then-12-year-old son Russell climbed out of a window from Hildebrandt's home and showed up to a neighbor's "emaciated and malnourished."
"If you could take me to the nearest police station," Russell said on Ring camera footage. There were visible marks from tape around his wrists and ankles.
According to the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department, police were called by a citizen who reported the child had "open wounds and duct tape around the extremities" and was asking for both food and water.
"The condition of the juvenile was so severe that they were seen by Santa Clara-Ivins EMS and transported to a local area hospital," said the release. Police then found Franke's then-9-year-old daughter, Eve, in a similar condition in Hildebrandt's house.
Last month, Franke's son, Chad, whose family had featured on the popular 8Passengers YouTube channel, marked the one-year anniversary of his mother's arrest.
The 19-year-old shared a series of posts on Snapchat, which were captured by People, including one of his mother that he simply labeled, "Happy Prisonversary."
The other is a shot of himself looking reflective, captioned, "A year ago today, I had just gotten off a phone call with Jodi and was going to work a Lifeguard shift."
Chad had already moved out of the home before the arrests and there was no evidence of him having been abused.
Chad's older sister Shari, 21, who also did not live at the home where the arrests were made, marked the anniversary of Franke and Hildebrandt's arrests on her own social media. "Today has been a big day," she wrote. "Me and my family are so glad justice is being served. We've been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up."
According to Franke's estranged husband Kevin, his wife got involved with a group called ConneXion Classrooms through Hildebrandt. Her relationship with the Frankes started as Ruby's "therapist," before evolving to being their children's mental health counselor.
It was through this connection that Kevin says Franke slowly became more deeply involved with ConneXions, a group NBC News reported Hildebrandt started as a life coaching service in 2007.
The organization also had religious associations, with former clients telling NBC News that it was largely based on the principles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Frankes and Hildebrandt are all three members of the church.
Mormon Mom Gone Wrong: The Ruby Franke Story premieres October 26 at 8 p.m. ET on Lifetime.
If you are experiencing or witness child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call 911.
