Kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart said Thursday that her new self-defense program was created after a man assaulted her on a plane over the summer.
Smart, who was abducted and held captive for nine months when she was 14 years old, said in an interview with “CBS This Morning” that an unidentified man molested her while she slept on a Delta flight last year to Utah.
“I had been asleep and, all of a sudden, I woke up because I felt someone’s hand rubbing in between my legs, on my inner thigh,” Smart told CBS’ Gayle King on Thursday.
She explained that she expected the man to stop and apologize, but he allegedly said nothing to her. The 32-year-old told King that she felt as if she should know what to do given her history, but that she was in shock.
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“The last time someone touched me without my say-so was when I was kidnapped, and I froze,” Smart said. “I didn’t know what to do.”
In her interview with CBS, Smart said that she reported the alleged assault to Delta after she landed and that the airline offered to help her in any way that it could.
“I mean, it’s not Delta’s fault, it was this man,” she said. “This man made a decision.”
Delta confirmed in a statement to NBC News Thursday that Smart reached out to the company to inform them that another passenger acted inappropriately to her. The airline said it does not tolerate passenger misconduct.
“We took the matter seriously and have continued to cooperate with Ms. Smart and the appropriate authorities as the matter is investigated,” Delta said.
She said that she also contacted the FBI and that there is an open investigation into the alleged assault.
The FBI told NBC News that it could not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.
Smart was taken at knifepoint in her pajamas from her Salt Lake City bedroom in 2002 by Brian David Mitchell, who kept her captive with his wife, Wanda Barzee. Mitchell is serving a life sentence after being convicted of kidnapping and raping Smart, while Barzee was released from prison in 2018 after being convicted for her role in Smart’s abduction.
The kidnapping survivor has since become an outspoken advocate against child abductions. In 2011, she founded the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, dedicated to women and girls who face abuse and sexual violence.
Smart told CBS that the assault on the plane helped inspire her latest program, Smart Defense. She said that her husband encouraged her to train in self-defense with a family friend after she told him what happened.
Smart declined to be interviewed by NBC News on Thursday.
