Armchair Expert episode 978

Elizabeth Smart

Elizabeth Smart (Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart) is a child safety advocate and founder of the Elizabeth Smart Foundation. Elizabeth joins the Armchair Expert to discuss why advocacy became her opportunity to let other victims and survivors know they're not alone, growing up not thinking her life would be in any way extraordinary, and details she remembers of her kidnapping at knifepoint in the middle of the night at age 14. Elizabeth and Dax talk about how her perspective on her experience has evolved now being a parent herself, the twisted, manipulative history of her abductors, and the ways her brain grasped for hope in such a dire situation. Elizabeth explains how she outsmarted her captors leading to her rescue, her challenges with the justice system, and her approach to protecting her family today.

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Episode overview

Elizabeth Smart (Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart) is a child safety advocate and founder of the Elizabeth Smart Foundation. Elizabeth joins the Armchair Expert to discuss why advocacy became her opportunity to let other victims and survivors know they're not alone, growing up not thinking her life would be in any way extraordinary, and details she remembers of her kidnapping at knifepoint in the middle of the night at age 14. Elizabeth and Dax talk about how her perspective on her experience has evolved now being a parent herself, the twisted, manipulative history of her abductors, and the ways her brain grasped for hope in such a dire situation. Elizabeth explains how she outsmarted her captors leading to her rescue, her challenges with the justice system, and her approach to protecting her family today.

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Short transcript highlights

These brief excerpts are navigation aids selected from different points in the transcript.

  1. 0:00Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. Experts on expert ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
  2. 1:22:07Think if you're the police officer. I know. I know. I know. I know. She's like, "What does that mean?
  3. 2:40:39grateful for it. Yeah. All right. Love you. Happy thousandth. Happy thousandth.
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