'My body carried me,' Elizabeth Smart says. Now she's celebrating it

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. National 'My body carried me,' Elizabeth Smart says. Now she's celebrating it May 25, 20265:00 AM ET By Windsor Johnston Elizabeth Smart says she has gained confidence as a competitive bodybuilder. She continues to be an advocate for women and victims of sexual violence after she was kidnapped when she was 14.

Kim Raff for NPR hide caption toggle caption Kim Raff for NPR The first time Elizabeth Smart stepped on stage at a bodybuilding competition, she was terrified. She says her smile froze. Every movement had been choreographed and practiced over and over again, down to the turns and poses she would hit beneath the bright stage lights.

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But there was only so much she could do to prepare for the pageantry. Unlike in training, she was wearing oversized costume jewelry, including a large ring. The blonde hair extensions were new, too.

Then, as she flipped her hair over her shoulder, the ring snagged one of the extensions. Sponsor Message "I just ended up ripping through the extension and just taking out a chunk of my hair, and then turning around and smiling," she says, laughing about it now. At the time, she says, she wanted to run offstage.

Instead, she kept posing in towering heels as the judges rated the body she'd spent years trying to survive inside. Smart lift weights in her home gym with bodybuilding coach and friend, Robyn Maher. Kim Raff for NPR hide caption toggle caption Kim Raff for NPR For Smart, bodybuilding isn't about the trophies.

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Yet, four competitions and several medals in, she's earned something she never expected: confidence in her body. "I'm at a point in my life where I want to celebrate it," Smart says, "I don't want to carry shame about my body. " A traumatic detour In 2002, Smart was just 14 years old when a self-proclaimed prophet abducted her at knifepoint from her Salt Lake City bedroom while she slept beside her younger sister.

Volunteers head out to search for Elizabeth Smart in Salt Lake City a few days after she was kidnapped in 2002. Pizac/AP hide caption toggle caption Douglas C. Pizac/AP For months, the world watched the search for her unfold.

Her face was plastered across television screens and the front pages of newspapers. All the while, she was living in the woods just miles from her home. Now, at 38, Smart remembers the ways she tried to survive the nine months she was held captive and repeatedly sexually assaulted.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.