Who Is Elizabeth Smart? Get Details on Her Attack and Her Life Now

It was back in 2002 that Elizabeth Smart first became a household name. At the time, she was just 14 years old when she was kidnapped from her room. Though she faced horrendous conditions and was repeatedly sexually abused by her attackers, nine months after she was first taken, she was miraculously found and freed.

View this post on Instagram

To all the Star inc. employees thank you for what you do! Every child is important, no exceptions! #star #specialneeds #newcanaan #connecticut #goodpeople #makingadifference

A post shared by Elizabeth Smart (@elizabeth_smart_official) on Mar 31, 2016 at 12:28pm PDT

Deal of the Day

Only $12! — (And No One Will Know They Aren’t Designer) View Deal

Since her kidnapping, she has worked as an advocate and just recently opened up to People about feeling suicidal following the first time she was raped. “For me, because I grew up in a very conservative Christian neighborhood, the first time I was raped I remember feeling devastated,” she said last month. “I felt like it would be better to be dead than to continue living being a rape victim, being a rape survivor. I felt in that moment if there had been an easy way out, I probably would have taken it.”

Elizabeth, now 29, also opened up about the whirlwind that followed her rescue. “One second I was being reunited with my parents, the next second I was being questioned, the next second, they take me up to the hospital that then they’re like, ‘Oh, take off your clothes. Oh, let’s do this kit on you,’ ” she recalled. “Nobody was really telling me anything and I remember when they were doing the rape kit, I just remember thinking, ‘What’s going on?’ ”

These days, there are two TV movies set to be released focused around her famous kidnapping case. Keep scrolling to get all the details on her kidnapping and her life now!

Have a tip? Send it to us! Email In Touch at contact@intouchweekly.com.

Where was Elizabeth Smart kept?

Elizabeth, who was just 14 years old when she was first captured, was kept in a remote area of woods in Utah during her captivity. She was chained to a pair of trees. Back in 2013, the then-25-year-old returned to the “makeshift campsite” with the Daily News and recalled the horrific nine months.

It was there that that her kidnappers performed a wedding-like ceremony. “I was begging and crying and just so scared,” she said. “I remember thinking, ‘I know what comes after a wedding. And that cannot happen to me. That cannot happen.’”

How was Elizabeth Smart discovered?

It was in March 2003 that Elizabeth was found alive in Utah. According to reports from the time, Elizabeth, who was just 15 years old when she was found, was in good condition after her nine months in captivity. It was when a good samaritan notified police that they recognized Brian David Mitchell driving a car that Elizabeth could finally be rescued.

"All of the children out there deserve to come back to their parents the way Elizabeth has come back to us," Elizabeth’s father Ed Smart told Fox News at the time. "I don't know what she's gone through and I'm sure she's been through hell. I just know that she's a part of our family, she's loved and we love her so much."

Who was Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapper?

Elizabeth was kidnapped by Brian David Mitchell and his wife Wanda Ilene Barzee. Both attackers were arrested and charged with kidnapping and rape. In 2011, Elizabeth was able to confront Brian on his sentencing date.

"I don't have very much to say to you," she said. "I know exactly what you did. I know that you know what you did was wrong. You did it with a full knowledge. I also want you to know that I have a wonderful life now, that no matter what you do will it affect me again. You took away nine months of my life that can never be returned, but in this life or next, you will have to be held responsible for those actions, and I hope you are ready for when that time comes."

Was Elizabeth Smart sexually abused?

While testifying back in 2009, Elizabeth said that she was raped "on a daily basis up to three or four times" by Brian David Mitchell, the homeless man eventually found guilty of kidnapping and rape. "He performed a ceremony to marry me to him and after that he proceeded to rape me," she said on the stand. Not only was she raped, but she was also given alcohol and drugs and forcibly shown pornogrpahy.

"Wanda would get very upset with him," Elizabeth said on the stand. "She'd say 'All you do is lust after her…' There wasn't an actual 24-hour period he wasn't able to rape me.”

What is Elizabeth Smart doing today?

These days, Elizabeth is taking her experience as a kidnapping victim and using it to better other people’s lives. She works in activism and journalism and has even spoken in front of Congress to support AMBER Alert legislation. She’s published a book titled My Story and is working on her second titled There's Hope: Healing, Moving Forward, and Never Giving Up which is set to publish in 2018. She’s also been working with Lifetime on their upcoming film I Am Elizabeth Smart.

In terms of her personal life, Elizabeth has gotten married and recently welcomed her second child, son James, with husband Matthew Gilmour. The couple welcomed their first child, Chloe, in 2015. Besides posting adorable pics of her kids, Elizabeth also uses her Instagram in the name of activism, posting about missing and kidnapped children.