Netflix is streaming a new documentary about the Elizabeth Smart abduction, describing it as a true story that "follows the abduction of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart and the subsequent media storm that accompanied the search for her captors."
Those who are old enough to have lived through that media storm in 2002 likely remember the story of the Utah girl who was snatched from her bedroom at knifepoint. Many followed the saga of the missing teen, who couldn't be found for nine months. She was miraculously discovered alive when her captors took her inside a convenience store, dressed in a white smock.
But where is Smart now? What is she doing today? "There are happy endings,” Smart told Netflix.
She spoke about the Netflix documentary to TODAY on January 21; Smart was abducted by Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee. He was a "street preacher" Smart's family had hired for "odd jobs," according to Netflix.
"I specifically remember him saying, the whole of Salt Lake is looking for you, but they will never find you because I have you," she said on TODAY.
In 2012, she married her husband Matthew Gilmour, with whom she has three kids. They still live in Utah.
According to People, Smart met Gilmour in Paris, "reportedly on a Mormon mission trip." The magazine added that Gilmour was "a native of Aberdeen, Scotland." He didn't realize Smart was the girl in the news, which impressed her, the publication reported.
“The thing that attracted me the most to her — at the beginning and now — is how confident she is, especially considering everything she has been through,” Gilmour said to People.
Today, Smart appears to be happily enjoying family and motherhood. She has also devoted her life to helping other survivors of sexual trauma shed guilt and go on to have happy lives.
"Being a mom and having children of my own was something I dreamed about as a little girl," she said in a clip played by TODAY.
She created a foundation to help other survivors. Smart wrote books and gives speeches, according to TODAY. She said she feels the need to talk about what happened to her so other victims don't feel alone.
"We’re a women and survivor-led organization building a more compassionate society to end sexual violence. Together with advocate Elizabeth Smart—whose abduction and assault garnered national attention in 2002—we drive crucial conversations and work to shift societal perceptions for lasting change," the Elizabeth Smart Foundation says on its website.
That's been a quest she embarked on long ago.
"I want other survivors out there to know that they are not alone. That they can be happy. That they can come back and have a wonderful life," she said to TODAY in 2012.