Raised Mormon, Elizabeth Smart Forges Her Own Path
Published By admin
When Elizabeth Smart was abducted in 2002, a seemingly picture-perfect life was shattered. The shocking kidnapping of the 14-year-old girl from her family home in one of Salt Lake City’s most upscale neighborhoods pierced the spirit of safety and fellowship within a tight-knit community centered around the Mormon Church.
The new documentary Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart revisits the notorious case from the moment of abduction, through nine harrowing months of sexual violence and abuse at the hands of Brian David Mitchell, abetted by his wife, Wanda Barzee, to Elizabeth’s ultimate rescue. The film features new interviews with those closest to the case, as well as new reflections from Elizabeth herself, who discusses how the trauma she endured forced her to reexamine the teachings she received as a child growing up in a religious household.
“I don’t know how many lessons I had on ‘don’t have sex before marriage,’ ” Elizabeth says in the documentary. “But no one had discussed with me the difference between consensual sex [and] intimacy versus rape. I felt a lot of shame, and I felt like I was filthy. I thought, ‘If my family knew what had happened to me, would they still want me back? Maybe it would be better if nobody ever found me.’ ”
She goes on to explain how an overwhelming sense of guilt and fear stuck with her following her eventual rescue.
“When I came back, I was scared of men. I was scared of a lot of things, and I still didn’t hear anyone speak about being raped or being abused. It was not a common conversation, so I felt a lot of shame and embarrassment around what happened, even though I knew it wasn’t my fault,” she says.
In an interview with Tudum, Elizabeth shares how that lingering silence left her feeling like an outsider.
“I felt very isolated, and I felt very alone,” she says.
Read more https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/kidnapped-elizabeth-smart-mormon-update
Content retrieved from: https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/kidnapped-elizabeth-smart-mormon-update.
