Elizabeth Smart is seen in the Netflix documentary “Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart”
Netflix

Elizabeth Smart became a household name when she was abducted at age 14, held captive for nine months and then found safe. Now 38, she is married with children and devotes her time to advocating for survivors of abduction, abuse and sexual violence.

With the release of the new Netflix documentary “Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart” on Wednesday, CNN sat down with Smart to talk about how her experience shaped her and what her life is like now. The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Elizabeth Smart: I am very happy with it. Absolutely — when I first got home, I didn’t hear of anyone else who’d been kidnapped, didn’t know of anyone else who’d been held captive. I didn’t feel like rape, sexual violence and abuse were common conversation. So, I ended up feeling very isolated, very alone.

I didn’t want to talk about it with anyone. I felt a great sense of shame over what happened, even though in my mind I knew it wasn’t my fault. But I just couldn’t separate myself, or I couldn’t change my emotions. My emotions still made me feel embarrassed and shameful. And as years went by, I had more and more survivors share their stories with me. And finally, after the trial came out, I felt like, if all of this information about what happened to me was gonna be out there, then I wanted it to serve a purpose, which is when I really got into advocacy.

And I just feel that sharing stories is so important. I feel like it’s one of the best ways we learn, because we can share statistics and they can be awful and terrible and just shocking, but until you start connecting faces with them, it doesn’t quite have the same emotional impact otherwise. And so, when this opportunity came along, I just felt like this was worth doing.

It is important to share my story — important so that if anyone watching is going through something similar, they don’t feel alone and hopefully they don’t feel the same shame and embarrassment that I feel.

CNN: Do you feel like there were any new revelations or anything that you shared during this documentary that you haven’t really touched on before?

Smart: I feel like two stories were being told in parallel to each other. My dad, my uncles, my sister are all going through sort of their side of the story and what was going on. And then at the same time, I was able to go through my story and what was going on because both sides had a story to tell.

From Left, Ed, Elizabeth and Mary Katherine Smart
Netflix

When I got home, I remember feeling like, ‘Well, it wasn’t that bad for you guys. You were all together. You had each other. I was alone.’ But now, as a parent myself, I’m like, ‘My goodness, I would do anything. I would gladly go through another kidnapping to protect my children from ever experiencing that.’ So, I think now I have a newer, fresher perspective than I certainly did back then.

CNN: Have you ever talked with your kids about what happened?

Smart: Yes, my kids all are aware of what happened, and they couldn’t tell you details about what happened, but they know that I was kidnapped, and they know that I was held captive for nine months and they know that I was rescued. And they also know that when I say no to them about, like, sleepovers or anything else that I feel like is a risk, they understand why I say no. Well, I don’t know if I would say they understand, but they usually sigh and say, ‘I know it’s because you want to protect us.’

CNN: How has your experience shaped you as a parent?

Smart: I think it just makes me so much more aware of what really is out there, the dangers that social media, YouTube, a lot of these online games pose. And again, my kids aren’t thrilled about it that I’m like, ‘Absolutely not. This is not happening,’ but then they again roll their eyes and they’re like, ‘Fine, I know it’s because you’re trying to keep us safe.’

CNN: Has the family of the kidnappers ever been in touch with you?

Smart: The family of Brian Mitchell — I wouldn’t say we have a close relationship or anything, but there’s been a few times where they sent me a birthday card or just like a card, like on the anniversary of my rescue. But I’d say it’s pretty minimal and that’s OK.

CNN: Would you say you think of your experience differently now? Can you talk about how your experience informs the kind of work you do these days?

Smart: Had I not been kidnapped, had I not gone through everything that I went through, I just wouldn’t understand the world of sexual violence. I wouldn’t understand the world of domestic violence, abuse. I just wouldn’t understand any of that … So, I feel like going through what I’ve been through has made me a much more compassionate person, a much more empathetic person. It’s given me so much more depth of perspective, and it has helped me realize, actually, just how common these problems are and that we need to change our culture around them and we need to provide more education and more support.

Elizabeth Smart gives a speech at Scotts Hill High School, where missing Tennessee woman Holly Bobo graduated, on August 27, 2012, in Scotts Hill, Tennessee.
Adrian Sainz/AP

I think it’s such a tragedy that when one of these crimes is committed, I feel like we often spend more time focused on the perpetrator than on the victim … I feel like the victim goes through the court of public opinion: ‘Are they worthy to believe? What’s their background? What did they look like? What were they wearing? Were they drinking?’

I do feel like it’s just created a passion in me to speak out, to try to help people understand what it’s like to be a victim, to help victims know they’re not alone, they have nothing to feel ashamed of, that this is not their fault, because ultimately the only way that rape and sexual violence is ever gonna stop is for rapists and predators to stop committing it.