Elizabeth Smart is an American child safety activist, author, and public speaker best known for surviving one of the most high-profile child abduction cases in modern United States history.
After being kidnapped from her Salt Lake City home at age 14 and held captive for nine months, she rebuilt her life and became a leading voice for kidnapping survivors and victims of sexual abuse.
In 2026, she is the subject of a Netflix documentary and made headlines again as a competitive bodybuilder.
Who is Elizabeth Smart?
Elizabeth Ann Smart was born on November 3, 1987, in Salt Lake City, Utah. She grew up in a large, close-knit family with five siblings, raised in the faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
From an early age, she showed a passion for music and was a skilled harpist. Friends and family described her as kind, thoughtful, and deeply connected to her faith.
Her life changed forever on June 5, 2002, when she was fourteen years old. A street preacher named Brian David Mitchell broke into the Smart family home in the middle of the night and abducted her at knifepoint.
Her nine-year-old sister, Mary Katherine, was in the same bedroom and witnessed the abduction but was too frightened to alert her parents immediately.
Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, held Smart captive for nine months, during which she was repeatedly raped, starved, and subjected to psychological abuse and forced religious rituals.
Smart was rescued on March 12, 2003, after two couples separately spotted her with her captors on a street in Sandy, Utah, and alerted police. She was reunited with her family in one of the most celebrated rescues in American memory.
Since her rescue, Smart has transformed her experience into a life of purpose. She founded the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, wrote two acclaimed books, served as a contributor for ABC News, and has spoken to millions of people around the world about child safety, resilience, and recovery.
She has advocated for the passage of landmark legislation protecting children from predators. As of 2026, she continues her advocacy work, has appeared in a Netflix documentary about her ordeal, and has stepped into the unexpected role of competitive bodybuilder.
Elizabeth Smart Age / Birthday
Elizabeth Smart is 38 years old as of 2026, born on November 3, 1987, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Ethnicity and Nationality
Elizabeth Smart is American. She is of Anglo-American descent. She was raised in the Mormon faith and remains connected to her spiritual roots.
Elizabeth Smart Early Life
Smart grew up in the Federal Heights neighborhood of Salt Lake City, one of six children born to Ed and Lois Smart. Her father, Ed Smart, worked as a real estate and mortgage broker.
Her mother, Lois Smart, was a homemaker who later became a public speaker. The family was deeply religious and active in their community.
Music played a central role in Smart’s childhood. She studied the harp and was considered a talented young musician.
She was homeschooled for part of her early education and attended West High School in Salt Lake City. Just days before she was set to complete middle school, her abduction upended her entire world.
Elizabeth Smart Education
After her rescue in March 2003, Smart returned to school and resumed her normal activities within weeks. Her ability to re-enter school life was seen as a remarkable act of resilience.
She graduated from high school in 2006 and enrolled at Brigham Young University, where she studied music performance. She earned her bachelor’s degree from BYU.
It was during her time abroad as a missionary for her church in Paris, France, in 2009, that she met her future husband, Matthew Gilmour.
Elizabeth Smart Career
Child Safety Advocacy
After her rescue, Smart began speaking publicly about child safety, kidnapping prevention, and survivor recovery. She became an advocate for the National AMBER Alert system and lobbied for stronger sex offender tracking laws.
She testified before Congress in support of child protection legislation and has remained an outspoken voice on these issues for more than two decades.
In 2011, she founded the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing crimes against children and supporting abuse survivors.
The foundation runs programs including Smart Defense, a child safety curriculum, and the webelieveyou campaign, which encourages survivors to come forward and report abuse. Matthew Gilmour, her husband, also actively supports the foundation’s work.
ABC News and Television
Smart has served as a contributor and commentator for ABC News, covering missing persons cases and child abduction issues.
Her work brought her into living rooms across America as both an expert voice and a survivor with unmatched firsthand knowledge of what victims experience.
She also served as a producer on the 2017 Lifetime movie I Am Elizabeth Smart, which dramatized her story.
Books
Smart has written two books that have reached wide audiences. Her first book, My Story, published in 2013, became a New York Times bestseller. It is a detailed account of her abduction, captivity, and recovery.
Her second book, Where There’s Hope: Healing, Moving Forward, and Never Giving Up, was released in 2018. It offers guidance and support to other survivors and those dealing with trauma.
Netflix Documentary (2026)
In January 2026, the Netflix documentary Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart premiered on January 21, sparking a new wave of national conversation about her story. The documentary features Smart recounting her experience in her own words, along with interviews with family members and never-before-seen material.
It includes appearances by her sister Mary Katherine, who describes the night of the abduction from her own perspective. The documentary also revisits the investigation and the legal proceedings that resulted in her captors receiving prison sentences.
Brian David Mitchell was sentenced to life in federal prison, though he died in 2020. Wanda Barzee was sentenced to 15 years and was released in 2018.
Bodybuilding (2026)
One of the most unexpected chapters of Smart’s story unfolded in 2026, when she revealed she had become a competitive bodybuilder. She began strength training roughly a year and a half before going public with the news.
Smart trains at least five days a week for about 45 minutes per session, carefully tracks her nutrition, and has competed in four competitions by the time she shared the news publicly. She competes under her married name, Elizabeth Gilmour.
Smart linked her decision to pursue bodybuilding directly to her recovery. She said she struggled for years with shame about her body after her abuse. Strength training gave her a new relationship with her physical self.
Speaking to Us Weekly in May 2026, she said she wanted other survivors to see that they could reclaim their bodies too.
Elizabeth Smart Net Worth
Elizabeth Smart’s estimated net worth is $10 million as of 2026. Her wealth comes from a combination of book royalties, speaking fees, television work, documentary production, and media partnerships.
As a highly sought motivational speaker, she commands fees in the range of $20,000 to $50,000 per engagement. Her memoir My Story was a New York Times bestseller and continues to generate income through ongoing sales and speaking events connected to its themes.
Her work with ABC News has provided a long-term media salary. She also earned income as a producer on the 2017 Lifetime film I Am Elizabeth Smart and through her involvement in the 2026 Netflix documentary.
Her partnerships with child safety organizations and technology companies focused on family safety add further to her income.
Her nonprofit, the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, operates separately and does not contribute directly to her personal net worth, though its profile has elevated her brand and opened doors for paid advocacy and speaking work.
Elizabeth Smart Mom
Elizabeth Smart’s mother is Lois Smart. Lois was a homemaker during Elizabeth’s childhood and later became a public speaker. She has used her platform to raise awareness about child safety and to support survivors of abduction and abuse.
Lois and Ed Smart co-authored the 2003 book Bringing Elizabeth Home: A Journey of Faith and Hope, which detailed the family’s nine-month ordeal during Elizabeth’s captivity.
Lois was a constant presence during the search for Elizabeth, regularly making media appearances alongside Ed to keep public attention on the case. After Elizabeth’s return, Lois worked alongside her in advocating for the National AMBER Alert system and other child protection legislation.
In 2019, Lois filed for divorce from Ed Smart after 34 years of marriage. The divorce was finalized in December 2019 after Ed came out publicly as gay.
Smarts’ separation was widely reported but handled with relative dignity by both parties. Lois declined to participate in the 2026 Netflix documentary.
Elizabeth Smart Sister
Elizabeth Smart’s younger sister is Mary Katherine Smart, born July 21, 1992. Mary Katherine was only nine years old on the night of the kidnapping and was sharing a bedroom with Elizabeth when Brian David Mitchell broke in. She was the sole witness to the abduction.
Mary Katherine did not immediately alert her parents, frightened by Mitchell’s threat. Months later, her memory of the kidnapper’s voice became the pivotal breakthrough in the case.
She recognized the voice as belonging to a man the family had hired for odd jobs, who went by the name Immanuel. That identification led investigators directly to Mitchell.
Elizabeth has spoken powerfully about her sister’s role. Speaking on the TODAY show in January 2026, she said her sister saved her life, adding that without Mary Katherine’s memory, she might not have been found alive.
Today, Mary Katherine lives a private life. She is a special education teacher and has earned her master’s degree in applied behavior analysis. She rarely makes public appearances but was featured in the 2026 Netflix documentary, sharing her own memories of that night and its aftermath.
Elizabeth Smart Husband
Elizabeth Smart’s husband is Matthew Gilmour. The couple married on February 18, 2012, in the Laie Hawaii Temple on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
Smart and Gilmour first met in Paris, France, in 2009, while both were serving as missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Gilmour is a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, born on December 21, 1991.
His mother, Kay Gilmour, served as the Head of Music at St. Machar Academy in Aberdeen. His father, Stewart Gilmour, was a head teacher who passed away in 2008 from cancer.
Gilmour did not recognize Smart as the famous kidnapping survivor when they first met, a detail he has recalled with warmth. They dated for several years, and he proposed to her near her family’s Salt Lake City home in early 2012. The wedding took place shortly after, in a private ceremony in Hawaii.
Gilmour has since relocated to the United States and actively supports Smart’s advocacy work through the Elizabeth Smart Foundation. He maintains a very low public profile and stays largely out of the media spotlight.
The couple has three children together: Chloé Smart-Gilmour, born in February 2015; James Smart-Gilmour, born in April 2017; and Olivia Smart-Gilmour, born in November 2018.
Elizabeth Smart Children
Elizabeth and Matthew have three children. Their eldest, Chloé, was born in February 2015. Their son James was born in April 2017. Her youngest daughter, Olivia, arrived in November 2018. The family lives in Utah.
Smart has spoken about how motherhood has shaped her advocacy, giving her a renewed sense of urgency around child safety issues.
Elizabeth Smart Awards and Recognition
Smart’s advocacy work has earned her recognition across multiple fields. She has been honored by child safety organizations and victims’ rights groups for her contributions to child protection legislation.
Her testimony before Congress helped advance the passage of laws strengthening AMBER Alert systems and sex offender monitoring. She is widely credited as one of the most effective public voices in modern American child safety advocacy.
Elizabeth Smart Social Media
Smart maintains an active presence on Instagram, where she shares updates about her family, advocacy work, bodybuilding journey, and public appearances.
She uses her platform to promote child safety campaigns and to connect with survivors who reach out to her. You can follow her on her official Instagram.
Conclusion
Elizabeth Smart’s story is one of the most extraordinary accounts of survival and purpose in recent American history. She endured nine months of captivity at the hands of violent abductors and came home to build a life defined by courage, advocacy, and impact.
Through her foundation, her books, her media work, and her public speaking, she has directly shaped how America talks about and responds to crimes against children.
In 2026, she remains as relevant as ever, with a Netflix documentary bringing her story to a new global audience and her decision to compete as a bodybuilder offering yet another powerful statement about what it means to reclaim one’s life.
Elizabeth Smart continues to show that survival is only the beginning.