Elizabeth Smart is drawing on her own experience with trauma in a powerful new way as the host of the true crime podcast “The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart.”
“I feel the best word to describe it is just powerful,” Smart, 38, exclusively tells Us of the project, which gives survivors a platform to share their stories in their own words. “I mean, it’s so meaningful to me. It’s something that I feel like I have wanted to do for a long time is to uplift other survivors, share their stories, give them a bigger, stronger platform to talk about what they experienced.”
The mom of three — now an activist, author and competitive bodybuilder — notes that the podcast, which releases new episodes Mondays through iHeartPodcasts, also allows each guest to discuss the “pieces along the way that other people may not understand” about their story.
“There were cases of human trafficking, and it wasn’t just, like, one day someone came and grabbed them. I mean, there was a whole process before it happened, and then talking about how difficult it was to get out of human trafficking,” Smart says of one of the subjects explored on the show.
Smart — who was abducted in 2002 at age 14 and sexually abused before being rescued nine months later — tells Us that another case features a young girl who was groomed by a teacher who “befriended her.” By giving the survivor a platform to discuss her experience, Smart hopes to deepen listeners’ understanding of how grooming can unfold.
“It can be easy to think, ‘Oh well, that just happens really fast,’ or ‘That’s a week-long process.’ But no, this happened over weeks and months,” Smart shares. “There’s so many of these pieces that I can talk about and that are so meaningful to me and that are so important to be shared because, again, from the outside, it’s easy just to look at these cases and be like, ‘Well, I would never do that,’ or ‘If I was in that situation, I’d do this.’”
Rather than simply recounting how each crime unfolded, Smart wants the podcast to explore the decisions survivors made and what they were experiencing in the moment.
“What makes this podcast so powerful [is] when you hear the survivors themselves sharing what happened and what was going through their mind and why they did what they did,” she adds.
Smart’s own experience with trauma also shapes how she approaches every interview.
“I certainly have been on the receiving end of less than pleasant interviews,” she says, explaining that she tells guests they do not have to answer any question that makes them uncomfortable. “The last thing I want is for someone to share the worst moments of their life with me and then feel like I exploited them, or feel like I betrayed them, or I made the situation worse.”
Smart notes that the podcast explores a variety of cases, including stalking, robberies and home invasions, illustrating the wide range of experiences that can shape a survivor’s story.
“I interview people from all different walks of life, all different stories. It’s not just kidnapping. It’s not just sexual violence,” she shares. “I mean, there’s so many different kinds of survivors that I talk to, and it’s actually been fascinating how there have been survivors of completely different crimes. It’s also been fascinating to hear other victims [whose] stories are a bit similar to mine, but how their responses were so different.”
While there is no shortage of true crime podcasts, Smart says “The Survivor Files” distinguishes itself by exploring each survivor’s experience “step by step.”
“They really take you into their mind — what they’re thinking about, how they felt, how they made their decisions, what made them do this, what made them do that, were they scared, how did they feel, were they thinking of their family?” Smart says. “So they really take you on a deep dive through their side of the story.”
Hearing a first-person account gives each story “a whole new meaning and a whole new depth,” Smart adds, helping listeners better understand the decisions a survivor made.
The podcast isn’t only about the crimes at hand; each episode also highlights where the survivor is now.
“We talk about healing, and we talk about what was it that you held onto that helped you survive? What was it that was your light at the end of the tunnel?” she says. “What is your happiness, and how do you learn to trust again? And are you a parent? How do you communicate with your kids about what happened, and has it changed how you parent and what’s important to you?”
For Smart, that focus reflects one of the most important lessons she hopes listeners take away from the series: A survivor’s journey doesn’t end when the immediate danger is over. “My story didn’t end the day that I was rescued,” she says. “People’s stories continue.”
“The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart” releases new episodes Mondays on iHeartPodcasts.
