Elizabeth Smart, who became a household name after she was kidnapped at 14, says she is now confronting the difficult task of explaining her abduction to her own children.
Smart told the Daily Mail that the process began when her eldest daughter, Chloé, then 3, asked where her mother was going and why she was dressed up as Smart prepared to deliver a victim-impact statement aimed at keeping one of her abusers behind bars. "Not everybody in the world is a good person. There are bad people that exist, and so I'm going to try to make sure some bad people stay in prison," Smart recalled telling her daughter, a conversation she says set off a steady stream of questions that has continued as her children have grown.
Smart said she and her husband are careful about how much detail they share with their children. "To some degree, they all know I was kidnapped," she told the Daily Mail. "I have yet to get into the nitty-gritty details with any of them, but my oldest knows the most and my youngest knows the least." Smart and her husband have three children: Chloé, now 10; James, 8; and Olivia, 6.
The conversation marked a new chapter for Smart, who was abducted from her home in the summer of 2002 in what was widely covered as one of the nation's most notorious child abductions. Her abductor, Brian David Mitchell, has been described in media reports as a pedophile and religious extremist. Smart later testified against him and others involved in her captivity; the planned victim-impact statement mentioned in her recent comments was part of an effort to prevent one of her abusers from being released from prison.
Smart has spoken publicly in the past about life after the abduction and the challenges of coping with the events that made her a national figure at a young age. She has said she is deliberate about protecting her children's emotional well-being while also being honest about the existence of danger in the world. The family has kept many aspects of their private life out of the public eye as Smart balances her role as a parent with the legacy of her case.
As Smart's children grow older, she and her husband face ongoing decisions about when and how to share more detailed aspects of her experience. For now, Smart has said, the approach remains cautious and measured, allowing answers to develop as her children are ready to receive them.