In Birmingham, Kidnap Victim Elizabeth Smart Insists 'I Will Never Feel Sorry For Myself'

Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her Salt Lake City, UT, bedroom nearly 10 years ago. But if her experiences — which includes rape and more than nine months with her captors in 2002 — still haunt her, she isn't letting it slow her down now.

Smart was the honored guest at Thursday's annual Circle of Friends benefit at the  in Birmingham, a fundraiser for the Pontiac-based CARE House, which helps abused and neglected children across Oakland County.

Smart was only 14 years old when she was taken from her home by self-proclaimed prophet and street preacher Brian David Mitchell and his partner Wanda Barzee.

Now, Smart is a 24-year-old senior at Brigham Young University, majoring in music with an emphasis in harp. She's even engaged to be married this summer, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

More importantly, Smart is passionate about her work helping kids just like her. Alongside the U.S. Department of Justice, Smart has help create the abduction survivors guide “You’re Not Alone: The Journal From Abduction to Empowerment" and is active in the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, in which she teaches kids how to be vigilant and stay safe.

Smart was honest but eloquent during her nearly hourlong talk in front of a sold-out ballroom at the Townsend. She described, in detail, the terror she felt when she was pulled out her bed, pleading with her captors to release her and the shame she felt after she was raped for the first time.

During the course of her nine-month confinement, Smart and her captors moved from a mountain encampment outside Salt Lake City to a homeless camp in San Diego, then back to Salt Lake where she was finaly recognized by police.

Rising above her captivity, however, Smart said she was ultimately driven by her desire to survive.

"It didn't matter what he did to me," Smart said. "I would do everything I could to survive."

Smart said the most important part of her experience was coming to the realization that no matter her shame, what happened was not her fault. After Smart was returned to her family, she said her mother gave her one important piece of advice: Don't let her experience define her.

"The best punishment you can ever give him is to be happy," Smart said her mother told her. "Don't ever feel sorry for yourself."

That is the mantra Smart lives by now and she said it has enabled her to help others through the Elizabeth Smart Foundation. Smart has created radKIDS, an empowerment program that she will soon be bringing to the CARE House — an organization Smart couldn't compliment enough.

"Thank goodness for the CARE House," she said. "I wish there had been a CARE House for me."

Those from the CARE House are just as appreciative of Smart, who toured the CARE House facility Wednesday. CARE House crisis counselors Yvonne Cameron and Erin Tribel were in the audience Thursday.

"She's so brave," Cameron said of Smart. "It's so inspiring to hear her story and it's been wonderful having her at the CARE House."

Also in the audience Thursday was writer and Birmingham resident Judy Solomon. For Smart to tell her story to so many people, Solomon said — "It's fascinating."

For more information on the CARE House, visit www.carehouse.org. For more information on the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, visit www.elizabethsmartfoundation.org.