Chad Franke: Freed
The Squeeze
Taylor Lautner
4.6 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 7 May 2025
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this week’s episode, the Lautners are joined by Chad Franke for a conversation about growing up on YouTube as part of the massively followed family channel 8 Passengers, created by his mom, Ruby Franke. Chad opens up about the early days of vlogging, when the channel began to take off, and what it was like having his childhood shared with millions. He reflects on how personal struggles were often turned into content, and how the shift from casually being on camera to having moments staged for engagement began to affect him. Chad talks about the #FreeChad movement, sparked by concerns over his living situation, and what it was like watching the Hulu docuseries Devil in the Family for the first time. He also shares about the last time he spoke to his mom, the letters she’s sent, his relationship with religion and God, and the gradual realization that what was happening wasn’t okay. Chad discusses his close bond with his siblings and dad, his current relationship with social media, and why he’s committed to keeping his future children offline. He also emphasizes the need for stricter regulations around monetizing minors and gives a look at what’s next for him.
Be sure to follow Chad https://www.instagram.com/chadwfranke/!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast is a Dear Media production. |
| 0:03.0 | If I'm going to spend all my time helping you, you're going to help me too. |
| 0:06.0 | Tell me about your name. |
| 0:08.0 | And then, you know, I didn't say it right or I didn't want to say it. |
| 0:11.0 | And then she just snaps, like, if you're going to do this, you know, you're going to do this right. |
| 0:15.0 | So I don't think I've ever shared this before. |
| 0:17.0 | A once popular parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke will spend up to 60 years in prison. |
| 0:22.1 | After that video came out and the controversy started hitting, she ran into the living room |
| 0:26.0 | and she was like, you, you did that on purpose. You knew what you did. You knew what you were saying. |
| 0:32.3 | And she was just yelling. And I haven't seen this out of her in a long time. And then my dad actually |
| 0:37.0 | came down and was like, |
| 0:37.9 | you need to get away from him. |
| 0:40.3 | I just had a 12-year-old boy show up here at my front door. |
| 0:43.5 | He's amazing. |
| 0:44.5 | He's got tape around his place. |
| 0:46.7 | That's how it was. |
| 0:47.7 | It's how it felt. |
| 0:48.5 | People started catching on very quickly, |
| 0:50.2 | like in the videos to what she was doing. |
| 0:52.4 | I remember there was a video with a little clip. She took the door off my bedroom. |
| 0:57.0 | And she took the door off my bathroom as well in the basement. |
| 1:00.0 | So she didn't want me to have any kind of privacy at all. |
... |
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