NBC News' Meredith Vieira sits down with Elizabeth Smart for a candid and Revealing interview about survival, eleven years after she was abducted from her bedroom in The Middle of the night. For the first time, Smart will reveal the riveting details of life with her captors, as told in her memoir, My Story, coming out October 7. "Elizabeth's Story - a Meredith Vieira Special," airs on NBC tonight, October 4 at 10p, following an all-new "Dateline."
Held captive in 2002 by religious fanatic Brian David Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee, 14-year old Smart was chained up, sexually abused and dressed in disguise. Held first in the mountains of Utah, Smart's captors took her to Southern California until she devised a plan to convince them that they should all return to Utah, hopeful that her chances of rescue would be better - closer to home. She was right -- nine months after she was abducted, Smart was rescued. She ultimately found the strength to confront her kidnappers in court and move on with her life.
Today, Smart has courageously transformed from "victim" to "advocate." She created the Elizabeth Smart Foundation to help prevent crimes against children, and is traveling around the country to educate, inspire and foster change.
Vieira will be live on "TODAY" Friday, October 4 with an exclusive clip from the interview, and Smart herself will appear in a live, exclusive interview on "TODAY" on Monday, October 7.
In the meantime, following is a sound bite from "Elizabeth's Story - a Meredith Vieira Special." If used, must credit
NBC News.
Elizabeth Smart shares with Meredith Vieira what it was like to be held for nine months by Brian David Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee:
ELIZABETH SMART: To her, I was a slave, and to him, I was an object.
MEREDITH VIEIRA: Did you even feel like a person?
ELIZABETH SMART: No. How could I? I mean, here I was, a 14-year-old girl, ripped from my family, from my friends, from the people I loved.
Being raped every day, not knowing when I'd be able to eat next, not knowing when I'd be able to drink next. And
Being chained to a tree -- I didn't feel human
MEREDITH VIEIRA: What does that do to a child?
ELIZABETH SMART: I don't think there's anything worse you can do to a child.
Produced by
NBC News: Senior Executive Producer David Corvo, Executive Producer Liz Cole, Senior Producers Jackie Levin and Aretha Marshall, and Producers Marianne O'Donnell, Benita Alexander and Elizabeth Waller.
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