Sept. 29, 2026, 9:01 a.m. ET
- Advocate Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted in 2002 at the age of 14, has launched a new podcast, “The Survival Files.”
- Smart, now 38, tells USA TODAY in an interview that she won’t be defined by her abduction or stopped “from experiencing things that I wanted to experience because of the nightmares of my past.”
- Smart also speaks about entering bodybuilding competitions, which provided “a new appreciation” for her physique. “I’m alive because of my body, and I want to take the best care of it I can.”
The day prior to Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapping had been “a good day.”
With her time in junior high dwindling, Smart tells USA TODAY she started training on June 4, 2002 for the high school’s track and cross-country team. Smart, then 14, ran with her younger sister, Mary Katherine, 9 at the time, because her mother Lois Smart said she couldn’t go alone.
Later, the sisters, their four other siblings and parents gathered around the kitchen table for dinner before rushing to Smart’s awards assembly. They arrived too late for Smart to play the harp as planned − “Moving an instrument that big is not that much fun, so I don’t think my parents were too thrilled with me over that,” Smart quips − and later returned to their ritzy Salt Lake City home in Federal Heights.
Nestled in the bed that she shared with sister Mary Katherine that night, Smart read “Ella Enchanted” aloud, and at each chapter’s end, her younger sibling begged her to keep going.
“I read till midnight or a little bit later,” Smart says. “I remember looking over at her, and she was asleep, and I remember just thinking, ‘Well, that’s great.’ Tomorrow night’s going to come, and she’s going to say, ‘Wait, I fell asleep. Go back and read that last chapter.'”
But far more sinister trouble lay on the horizon.
Brian David Mitchell, previously hired to do some work on the family’s home, abducted Smart at knifepoint, leading the teen to a campsite where his wife and accomplice, Wanda Barzee, waited. Smart, who says she and Mitchell never spoke prior to her kidnapping, was held captive, abused and sexually assaulted multiple times a day, every day, until her rescue nine months later on March 12, 2003.
While held against her will, Smart says it was “a conscious thought every day” to persevere. “It was just doing whatever I had to do to survive. And it didn’t matter what it was. If it meant that I’d survive, then I was going to do it.”
In more than 20 years since, Smart, now 38, has become an activist and started an eponymous foundation to fight for change and provide education. In August, she launched a true-crime podcast, “The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart,” (weekly Mondays, where podcasts are available and on the iHeartRadio app), in which she interviews those who have endured various harrowing circumstances. And in April, Smart shared that she’s taken an interest in body building competitions.
While Smart acknowledges that her abduction was life-changing, she says it was not life-defining, and she’d like to be known as “more than just a kidnapping survivor.”
“Growing up, my parents always emphasized if you borrow something or you stay somewhere, you should leave it better than [how] you found it,” she says. “Ultimately that’s what I would want to be known or remembered [for] − that the world, or at least my tiny corner of it, was better for having me in it than not.”
Elizabeth Smart’s new podcast is shaped by her previously being ‘blindsided’
Smart says “The Survival Files” highlights traumatic experiences of her guests “in an ethical way,” where “the survivors themselves are the ones sharing what they feel comfortable sharing and really taking ownership of their story.”
That was an intentional choice by Smart, who says she’s previously been subject to bait and switch interviews and has had her story misrepresented.
“I certainly have been blindsided in interviews before where I was there to speak about one thing, and then they didn’t ever even touch on it, and they just went down a completely different path,” she explains, mentioning an instance where a tabloid that twisted her testimony about the presence of alcohol and marijuana during her captivity.
“I went to the grocery store the next day with my mom,” Smart recalls. “[There’s] a big headline saying, ‘Elizabeth Smart admits she’s a druggie.’ And I definitely never said that … where so many survivors aren’t the ones sharing their own stories, it felt like a very needed platform.”
Bodybuilding allowed Elizabeth Smart to discover ‘a new appreciation’ for her body
Bodybuilding is one of the interests Smart has allowed herself to explore after marathon running began “taking a toll on me.” In April, she shared photos from her fourth competition on Instagram, showcasing her muscular physique in a bikini, admitting she was “too afraid to post” previous efforts because of her fears of being judged or ridiculed.
Smart says the reaction to her post “blew my mind,” especially since it received “more attention” than her 2025 book “Detours: Hope & Growth After Life’s Hardest Turns” and January’s “Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart” documentary, streaming now on Netflix.
“I thought a few people would have something to say,” she explains, “but I could not believe that it escalated to the level that it did.”
While the support and encouragement have been meaningful, Smart says it’s the new perspective she’s developed through bodybuilding that has been even more valuable.
“I’ve always been appreciative and grateful to my body. But I feel like in the world of victims and survivors, a lot of us look at our bodies and be like, ‘Well, if I hadn’t been pretty, this wouldn’t have happened to me,’ or ‘If my body didn’t look this way,’ or ‘If I hadn’t been dressed this way,’” Smart explains. “There’s a lot of going back over every detail in excruciating pain to figure out if you could have done something different or what caused it to happen.”
“As I really got into the process, I feel like, in some way, it did give me a new appreciation for my body,” she adds. “I also felt like it gave me a freedom about my body. Why should I be ashamed of my body? My body’s beautiful. Look at what it’s done. My body deserves to be celebrated. I’m alive because of my body, and I want to take the best care of it I can.”
The mental impact of bodybuilding has also been beneficial for Smart. “I only have one life, and I don’t want it to be a sad life. I don’t want to feel like I never did all of the things that I want to do, and I stopped myself from experiencing things that I wanted to experience because of the nightmares of my past,” she says.
Smart has since traveled to Pittsburgh to compete in the NPC North American Championships in early September. And though she “placed at the bottom” of two classes, according to her Sept. 5 Instagram post, Smart couldn’t be prouder.
“I’ve always said ‘just stepping on stage is a win for me!’ And I completely stand by that,” she captioned her post. “I brought a better physique and stage presence than at my previous shows, and I’m so proud of myself for the hard work, discipline, and bravery it takes me to compete. So here’s to pursuing goals and not giving up!”
