Elizabeth Smart says she feels liberated after body building competitions

Elizabeth Smart, who survived abduction and sexual abuse as a teenager and went on to become a child safety advocate, said her first body building competition was terrifying as she stood on stage in a bikini, but that she now feels liberated.

“I grew up always just being so modest. I don’t think I wore a bikini until I was on my honeymoon,” Smart told “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King on Monday. “So stepping up on stage in a bikini felt like the most vulnerable thing I could possibly do. I was shaking.”

Smart recently posted a photo of herself in a body building competition, where she placed first in her category. She said it was her fourth competition and that revealing her participation in the shows probably shocked many of her followers.     

She said on Monday she feels “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.”

“And I also feel like through doing this and putting this post out there, I feel liberated because I can be more than just one thing,” she said. “I can be a body builder. I can feel beautiful or sexy, and I can still be an advocate for women and children against sexual violence.”

Smart described her pivot into body building as “a celebration” of her body, which has carried her “through every worst day, every bad experience.” 

She also noted that she has had three children, adding, “It’s still carried me through life, and I’m so grateful to my body for bringing me to where I am today.”

Smart was 14 years old when she was kidnapped from her bedroom in 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was found nine months later, and about 18 miles away from her home, with her abductors.