Elizabeth Smart in 2024 Elizabeth Smart is defending her right to pursue an interest in bodybuilding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n The child safety advocate, who recently debuted a bikini shot from a competition, argues that she “can be more than just one thing.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Smart told Gayle King that she can feel “sexy” at her competitions and still advocate against sexual violence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Elizabeth Smart<\/a> is feeling “liberated” after entering a new era.<\/p>\n The 38-year-old child safety advocate, who survived abduction and sexual abuse as a teenager, recently entered the world of competitive bodybuilding \u2014 an exploration that has been both gratifying and “terrifying” for her.<\/p>\n “I grew up always just being so modest. I don’t think I wore a bikini until I was on my honeymoon,” Smart told CBS Mornings<\/em> <\/a>co-host Gayle King<\/a> in a Monday sit-down. “So stepping up on stage in a bikini [for my first competition] felt like the most vulnerable thing I could possibly do. I was shaking.”<\/p>\n Smart has come a long way since then. At her fourth competition, she placed first in her category<\/a> and celebrated by sharing a photo of herself competing on social media.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Smart poses for bodybuilding competition Smart said she now feels “almost liberated to a degree, because I think for so long I wanted to be taken seriously, I wanted whatever I had to say [to] matter, I wanted to feel like I was respected.”<\/p>\n She continued, “And I also feel like through doing this and putting this post out there, I feel liberated because I can be more than just one thing.”<\/p>\n Smart explained that while she’s pursuing this new passion, she plans to continue her work as an advocate against sexual violence.<\/p>\n “I can be a bod builder,” she explained. “I can feel beautiful or sexy, and I can still be an advocate for women and children against sexual violence.”<\/p>\n She added that she sees her pivot to bodybuilding as “a celebration” of her body, which has carried her “through every worst day, every bad experience.”<\/p>\n Smart similarly expressed concerns over not being taken seriously<\/a> when she first shared photos before the body building competition last month. She wrote that it took her so long to speak publicly<\/a> about her interest in bodybuilding because she feared that doing so would make people perceive her as “unworthy to continue work as an advocate for all survivors.”<\/p>\n Elizabeth Smart in 2018 But her success in the competition, in which she also ranked third in the Fit Model Masters 35+ category, prompted Smart to reclaim her narrative as a survivor.<\/p>\n Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with\u00a0our\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>EW Dispatch newsletter<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In 2002, a 14-year-old Smart was kidnapped from her bedroom and held captive by Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee<\/a>, who subjected her to daily sexual assault. Smart was found nine months later, about 18 miles away from her home, with her abductors. Smart previously explained that bodybuilding has provided a unique method of healing from the traumatic experience.<\/p>\n “My body has risen to every single challenge life has presented it with, and carried me through so I refuse to be ashamed of it,” she captioned the photo. “I refuse to feel embarrassed about trying something new and am embracing my chance at life to the absolute fullest I can.”<\/p>\n Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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