What A Day - More Than True Crime Content with Elizabeth Smart

Episode Date: September 11, 2026

In June 2022, a 14-year-old girl named Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her Utah home and held captive for nine months. She endured abuse and torture before police finally rescued her. Now, she's an advocate for other survivors, and she has a new true crime podcast, "The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart," which centers on their stories. Jane talks to her about what she's learned about getting through one of the worst things imaginable."The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is available every Monday on the iHeartRadio app and everywhere podcasts are heard.Show Notes: Check out "The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart" Call Congress – 202-224-3121 Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/y4y2e9jy What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ For a transcript of this episode, please email [e-mail]

When we hear other people's stories, podcast, documentaries, whatever, there is like a beginning, a middle, and an end, and there is a hard end. But when you said there really is no end, you're absolutely correct. I mean, that individual story does not end there. I mean, there is all the aftermath. There is the messy, dirty business of trying to heal and trying to move forward and trying to find that hope in your life and trying to figure out, does this work? Does this not work? Oh, look, here's a new modality of therapy. Should I try that?

Should I not try that? Like, do I want to do this. It's Friday, September 11th. I'm Jane Koston, and this is Wadter Day. Please raise your right hand. I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States that loves her so much he can't even bring. breathe. That I will go out with my family, my friends. I'll do it anyway. I don't care if I'm

registered or not I'm going to try and cheat like hell like they do. And he doesn't stop there because there's an election coming up. There's never been bigger cheaters that don't care. I am going to go out and I'm going to get my friends, my family, and we are going to vote on November 3rd, or we are going to vote before that. President Donald Trump ended his midterm Trumpipollos on Dallas Thursday night with the single weirdest pledge imaginable. But a GOP midterm convention probably won't distract Americans from the rising cost of oil and pretty much everything else. As the Labor Department reported today that inflation jumped from July to August, which means the Federal Reserve will probably raise interest rates when they meet next week.

Sorry, Donald. Oh, and the price of diesel hit $6 per gallon for the first time ever, thanks to Trump's war in Iran. It's not just truckers feeling the pain. The war has cost the average American $1,650 as of last week, according to a new analysis from Moody's. And, as you probably know, today marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Despite some protests and Islamophobic attacks, New York City Mayor Zeramam Dani participated in memorial ceremonies throughout the city today. On yesterday's show, we talked about 9-11 on the pain and trauma of the survivors and families of the victims and the lasting health effects that New Yorkers have had to endure. But today, I want to talk about something that happened nine months after 9-11.

A 14-year-old girl named Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her Utah home and held captive for 9.5. months, enduring abuse and torture before she was finally rescued by police. Now, she's an advocate for other survivors, and she has a new true crime podcast that centers their stories. I wanted to talk to her about what she's learned about getting through one of the worst things imaginable. Elizabeth, welcome to what a day. Thank you. I'm excited to be here. First of all, can you tell me, why did you decide to start a true crime podcast? Well, I feel like stories. are one of the best ways we learn. But within the true crime podcast space,

I feel like there's a pretty big hole. And it's because we hear stories from other people, but it's not their personal stories. It's other people telling other people's stories. And I feel like really the most ethical way of sharing a story is letting the person who experienced it themselves share it. And it's always been one of my missions to help support survivors and victims, to help them share their stories, to help hopefully

foster compassion between, you know, the survivors and the audiences. And my podcast, it's, I know, you see me and you automatically think kidnapping, sexual, like, violence, yes, we share those stories, but we have survivors of all sorts of crimes, of all sorts of. horrors on our podcast because there is so much overlap, there's so much, it's not just about the story, it's about the healing side of things too, the resilience that each of us have inside of us and connecting to that. And there's so much overlap. When you go through something, you can experience, you know, vastly different things, but you find yourselves kind of going

through the same emotions when you're trying to move forward. This is the first time I've ever spoken to someone I have listened to True Crime Podcasts about. As you know, there are people who have told your story, what happened to you in a podcast setting. And I can't imagine how weird that is to have survived what you went through and then have people making content about it. How has that impacted how you approach doing this show? Well, anyone else sharing my story out there, I mean, you can read, there's plenty of content out there. You can find out plenty of things that happened to me while I was kidnapped, but at the end of the day, they weren't there. Like, you can read about something and you can experience something. And you can

experience something and they can still be wildly different. And so for me, I wanted survivors to have that opportunity to share their experience exactly the way that they felt it, exactly the way that they saw it and experienced it. And for example, in my case, you know, my captors were approached by police officers and not just on the day that I was rescued, but even while I was in captivity, they were approached by police officers. And for years, I've had people say, well, why didn't you scream? Why didn't you run? Like, if a police officer was right there, why didn't you just do something?

And from the outside or from another person's perspective, that can seem like the obvious thing to do. But for me, it wasn't just as simple as speaking up and being like, hey, I'm Elizabeth. Please rescue me. Please save me. You know, I had been threatened every single day. My life was on the line. My family's life was on the line. Not to mention, there had been days, weeks, months where I was raped and abused every single day.

They followed through with every single threat they made. They became, it felt like they were invincible. And I had found that the best way to survive, the best way to make it through to the next day was by doing what they said. And so for me, I knew what they were capable of. I didn't know what the police were capable of. I didn't know if they could protect me. I didn't know if they could rescue me. I didn't know if they would believe me.

But I did know what would happen to me if my captors maintain control over me. And so for me, it was a decision based on survival. But you wouldn't know that if you just heard someone else talking about it. And so that's kind of what this gives my podcast gives the survivors a chance to do. Like explain what was going through their. mind because from the outside, we don't know. We can only guess. But to hear it from the survivor themselves, then all of a sudden you're like, oh my gosh, I never thought of that. That makes so much sense. I totally see how they could have like how that was the decision

that they made. What have you learned about talking to survivors, about interviewing survivors, about their experiences from how people have interviewed you? Because, you know, obviously media, you've been speaking with the media about your experiences for 20 odd years now, which sounds crazy, I'm sure, to both of us. So what have you learned? Like, what are the kind of the, okay, if I had the chance to be, if I had the microphone, here's what I do and here's what I would not do. I mean, if a survivor told me that they didn't want to talk about something, that's it. Like, I am never going to force them or pressure them to talk about. something they don't want to talk about. I mean, their boundaries were already broken when they

experienced whatever it was they went through. I am not going to be a person to retramatize them. Like, I will respect their boundaries. That's a big thing for me. I mean, I always start each podcast off with, you know, I'm like, we're here to help you share your story. But if there's something that you're not ready to share, just say it. And it will never, it will never air. It will never appear. But I also feel like when you give them that choice, that ability to say, no, I don't want to talk about this. Like, typically when they feel like they're more in charge, they want to share more as opposed to just being interrogated and pressured into saying things. What have you learned from the people you've spoken with for your show so far?

everyone is stronger than they think they are i mean i hear these stories and i just sit there and think wow this is unbelievable this is this is an absolute nightmare how did they survive that like that you are so amazing for coming through the other side and then i also think you know what i think people probably think the same thing about me but yet you don't know how strong you are until you don't have a choice. These other victims, these other survivors, they didn't have a choice. Their only choice was to keep going. And they did. And it's incredible. And I think all of us have a much deeper strength than we think. Because when we hear these things, we're like, oh my gosh, no, that's, couldn't do that. But then you find yourself in like an

impossible situation. And all you can do is keep going. I want to ask you about the aftermath, because I think that for so many people who listen to true crime, there's a narrative. There's a beginning of what happened and an end to what happened. But as a survivor, you know, it never really ends exactly because, you know, you're still in it to some extent. You're still working through it, walking through it. And I'm curious as to how your own journey past what has happened. especially you're a mom. You've been doing so much work on behalf of survivors. You've been, you know, also just an everyday adult hanging around. How has that changed, how has that changed

how you've seen your own experiences and how you've, how you approach survivors where you think about like, you're still reckoning through this. How you feel about it today might not be how you feel about it in five years, 10 years, 30 years. No, you're absolutely right. And I think you made a very important point is when we hear other people's stories, podcast, documentaries, whatever, there is like a beginning, a middle, and an end. And there is a hard end. But when you said there really is no end, you're absolutely correct. I mean, that individual story does not end there. I mean, there is all the aftermath. There is the messy, dirty business of trying to heal and try. trying to move forward and trying to find that hope in your life and trying to figure out, does this work? Does this not work? Oh, look, here's a new modality of therapy. Should I try that? Should I not try that? Like, do I want to do this. Like, what does happiness mean to me? I don't even know what brings me joy anymore. Like, I need to find that. So it is, honestly,

it is messy. It's not straightforward. There's not a one-size-fits-all. I wish there was, like a perfect equation that a plus B equals C, that would be so wonderful, but it's not. It's a lot of trial and air. It's a lot of messiness. And I think it's for all of us because at the end of the day, we've all only experienced our own worst day, if that makes sense. And that is the depth of pain that each one of us has experienced our own worst day. And yet we all have to figure out way to try to keep moving forward. We'll get back to my conversation with Elizabeth Smart in just a moment. What a day is brought to you by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. It's back to school season, and this year, five million children across Texas are going to be

greeted by the Ten Commandments in their classroom. Texas politicians passed a law requiring the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom, forcing their religion on every kid in those schools. 28 families in Texas supported by Americans United for Separation of Church and State are taking the fight to the Supreme Court. We need you to amplify their voices before the Supreme Court gets his hands on this case. They're going to go up, but we're going to fight to get him taken down. That's Texas public school parent, Ted Lowe. Ted and Rebecca Lowe are an interfaith couple. Ted is Jewish and Rebecca is Christian, and their kids are in Texas public schools. The story they tell in this video is moving, and we hope everyone hears and shares it. There is a human cost of Christian

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to ask you about is that you have lived in Utah your entire life. What happened to you took place in Utah near Salt Lake City. I used to live there. I was just mentioning to you. And then you made the decision to stay in Utah. You went to Brigham Young University. You're back kind of in the Salt Lake City area. Has that been, I mean, all of this is weird,

but has that been strange to kind of be in a place where all of this happened, where yes, like your childhood and your family are, but also where the worst day, the worst nine months happened to you? Has that been, how has, have you reckoned with that? Well, I mean, the day that I was rescued that night, I went to bed in the same bed I was kidnapped out of. I mean, like these places, they didn't hurt me. It was a person that hurt me. And that person or those people, they're not in my life.

So, like, Salt Lake doesn't bother me. Salt Lake's, you know, poems where I was born, raised, my family lives here. Like, would I ever leave Salt Lake? Sure. There's a good reason to. There was an opportunity to. Like, I'm totally happy here. I love it here. But I'm, yeah, I don't know. It's just where I'm at right now. When we started our conversation, you said something I thought was noteworthy, which was that, you know, you mentioned like, oh, you know, you see me and you think kidnapping, sexual assault. And we were talking beforehand about how, you know, I was so interested to have this conversation with you because you are someone who is known for something terrible happening to you. How do you want me to know you? How do you want me or the audience to know you? Because you're an adult, you're a mom, you're an advocate. You are not 14 years old for the rest of your life.

How do you want to be known? My parents growing up, if we ever borrowed a car or borrowed an item of clothing from someone or, I don't know, stayed at someone's house or, you know, we were given something, my parents were always like, you have to leave it better than you found it. So, you know, if you borrowed a car on half a tank of gas, you should return it with a full tank of gas. And I guess I would hope that I am known as someone who the world was better for having in it than not. Today is the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. And something I'm sure you've seen it as well, I keep thinking about how the survivors of the attacks and the families of the victims are surrounded by content about their worst day. You know, they are seeing images over and over and over again, maybe even hearing audio of their loved ones leaving an answering machine message. And this is something, you know, that every American has endured, but for survivors and for the victim's family, is this obviously is very personal.

You mentioned talking about your own worst day. How do you talk to others about their own worst day? And what advice would you have for those people who are still living in it and surrounded by content about it? I know it doesn't make up for what they've lost, but I certainly would want them to know that they're not alone. And that, like, there are so many of us who have prayed for them, thought of them, kept them in our, you know, kept them in our hearts for years and years and years. I mean, anytime anything pops up about 9-11, I mean, it's always a sobering moment. for me. But I would, I think I would tell them first and foremost, take care of yourself. Because you may not be like the direct victim of the plane flying into the tower, but you are

still a victim. You lost someone that you loved. You've had to live with this grief for 25 years. I mean, like, you are a victim. And so, for instance, for me, I will not watch violence before I go to bed. I do not want to see, like, documentaries, true crime documentaries before I go to bed. I don't want to watch people getting hurt right before I go to bed. And so, like, for me, I'll just be like, I'm either going to read a book, or I'm going to watch something light and fluffy before I go to bed because I just, that bothers me too deeply to like watch violence and sadness and heartbreak before I go to sleep

a night. And that's just a personal boundary for me. That's just something that I do to take care of myself. And so I would say, I would say the same thing. Maybe it's completely different to what everyone else is doing. But if you need to have like a social media free day, then have a social media free day. If you need to turn off your phone, turn off your phone. You just need to go for a walk in nature, then separate yourself and prioritize that time to do that. Because as publicized as it is, and for as many people watching as there are and invested as there are, you need to take care of yourself. Elizabeth, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for having me. That was my conversation with Elizabeth Smart. We'll link to her podcast.

The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart in the show notes. Before we go. Usually, parents let out a sigh of relief when kids go back to school. But with over 3,000 confirmed cases of measles spreading across the U.S., many are holding their breath. This week on Runaway Country, Alex Wagner digs into the consequences of the Trump administration's vaccine disinformation campaign, speaking with pediatricians and political experts about what's at stake. New episodes of Runaway Country drop every. every Thursday. Check it out wherever you listen to podcasts or watch on YouTube.

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What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. Our show is produced by Emily 4, Erica Morrison, and Adrian Hill. Our team includes Haley Jones, Greg Walters, Metberg, Adam Lippert, Johanna Case, and Desmond Taylor. Our music is by Kyle Murdoch and Jordan Cantor. We had helped today from the Associated Press. production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. I'm Nate Silver. I'm Gailen Drook.

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