‘SPIRITUALLY PAINFUL’
Kidnap survivor Elizabeth Smart says her teen rape trauma affects her sex life with husband
KIDNAP survivor Elizabeth Smart has revealed how her horrific teen rape ordeal at the hands of a twisted fiend affects her sex life with her husband.
Smart, now 33, was infamously abducted from her bed at knifepoint aged 14 in June 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah, before being rescued nine months later.
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She later testified in court how she had been drugged, – sometimes up to four times a day - by her captor Brian David Mitchell.
Now has told how one of the questions she is often asked is: "How are you able to have sex after experiencing so much rape and sexual trauma?"
She explained about the "big differences" she sees between sex and rape which allow her to be intimate with husband Matthew Gilmour.
Smart, an advocate for survivors of abuse, said sex with her husband "is entered into by choice (also known as “enthusiastic consent”) and is based off a relationship built off of trust and mutual love."
She added, in a moving post on Instagram, that "sex is more than just a physical act. It’s about love, connection, and pleasure.
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"Rape is forced, coerced, manipulative, and often violent. Rape not only is often physically painful but is emotionally and spiritually painful and devastating."
Smart previously revealed in her book 'My Story,' that after the first time she was raped, she heartbreakingly wondered whether her family would even want her back.
It wasn’t until she testified in court in 2009, that her mom and dad, Ed and Lois, first heard the horrific details of the abuse she had suffered.
Smart, in November: "The truth is I never sat them all down and had a 'tell all' experience with them.
"Honestly when I got home I didn't want anyone to know what had happened, I was embarrassed and ashamed."
She added: "I was brought to an advocacy center where I had to disclose much of what happened to two professionals and they in turn relayed much of what happened to my parents.
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"But I don't think my parents ever heard in detail what happened from my own lips until my court appearance almost a decade later."
Smart’s captor Mitchell, is currently serving life in prison, while Mitchell's wife, Wanda Brazee, was released in September 2018.
Smart was abducted at knifepoint from her parents' home in a case that made national headlines.
The teenager was then rescued nine months later, when two witnesses happened to recognize her abductors.
She had reportedly been chained up in a makeshift campsite, before being moved to Lakeside, California.
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Smart and her husband met on a Mormon mission trip to Paris in 2009, got engaged in January 2012, and were married a month later in Hawaii.
They have three children together: Chloe, James, and most recently, in December of 2018, Olivia.
Last week she announced a new YouTube series in which she will answer questions from the public, .
In her first video she said: "I am not a therapist, I am not a counselor. Anything that I share will be my own personal opinions and
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"Keep in mind, if you're struggling, don't be afraid of reaching out to a professional for help.
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"There's no shame in asking for help. If I'm talking about something that's triggering — turn it off. Just close out, it's fine. You won't offend me by doing that because taking care of yourself and respecting your own boundaries is really important.
"I imagine that sometimes I will talk about what it's like to be a survivor, or how my rape affected me, or how my rape has affected my intimate life as a married adult. If you find something triggering, just stop."
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