NEWSKidnapping Victim Elizabeth Smart Feels 'Liberated' After Winning Bodybuilding Competition: 'I Was Absolutely Terrified'
Elizabeth Smart discussed how she got into bodybuilding.
May 4 2026, Published 12:08 p.m. ET
Elizabeth Smart is staying strong — mentally and physically.
The kidnapping survivor, 38, got candid about how entering bodybuilding competitions makes her feel empowered during an interview with CBS' Gayle King on Monday, May 4.
The kidnapping survivor opened up to Gayle King about winning her first bodybuilding event.
Smart — who was taken in 2002 at the age of 14 and abducted for nine months — recently placed first in her category at a bodybuilding event in Utah on April 18.
“I feel good. I feel excited,” Smart told the journalist, 71. “I feel 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.”
Elizabeth Smart Opens Up About Starting Her Bodybuilding Journey
After Elizabeth Smart stopped training for marathons, she took up bodybuilding.
“And I also feel like, by doing this and putting this post out there, I feel liberated because I can be more than just one thing,” she went on.
“I can be a bodybuilder. I can feel beautiful and s---. And I can still be an advocate for women and children against sexual violence," the child safety activist continued.
Smart explained how she became interested in bodybuilding, noting she started training after taking a break from marathon running.
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The ABC commentator said bodybuilding makes her feel 'beautiful.'
“My knees started hurting a little more, I had to do a whole series of stretches before I’d go for a run,” she said. “And it was taking up so much of my day, especially on the weekend when my kids were home. By the time I’d finish my long runs, I’d be useless for the rest of the day.”
The ABC commentator married husband Matthew Gilmour in 2012, and they share kids Chloé, 11, James, 9, and Olivia, 7.
When Smart's trainer, Robyn Maher, contacted her, she realized she was ready for a new endeavor.
Elizabeth Smart Needed 'New Goal' After Stepping Away From Running
Elizabeth Smart was 'terrified' during her first competition.
“I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t vanity involved,” she chuckled. “I was like, ‘I want to look amazing. I need a goal and I need a deadline.’ Otherwise I’d be like, ‘My diet starts Monday. My diet starts Monday.’ ”
Of her first bodybuilding competition, Smart admitted she was "absolutely terrified" over it.
'For me doing this, I feel like it has been a celebration of my body,' Elizabeth Smart said.
"I grew up always just being so modest. I don’t think I wore a bikini until I was on my honeymoon. So stepping up on stage in a bikini felt like the most vulnerable thing I could possibly do," Smart confessed.
“In my line of work, I have met so many victims of sexual abuse and violence who feel like their body betrayed them,” she said. "For me doing this, I feel like it has been a celebration of my body because it has carried me through every worst day, every bad experience."
