Elizabeth Smart says 'I wasn't expecting this' as she reveals reason behind bodybuilding journey

Elizabeth Smart has found freedom in bodybuilding.

The child safety advocate has been largely best known for her horrific kidnapping case, having been held captive when she was 14 years old in 2002 by religious fanatic Brian David Mitchell.

For the last two decades, she has become known for her activism in the child safety space, but now, she is also becoming known for something entirely different: bodybuilding.

© Instagram

Earlier this year, Elizabeth, 38, left many stunned as she shared photos of herself at a bodybuilding competition, sporting a deep tan and blue bikini with heels. Speaking with Us Weekly about her new hobby, and the reaction, she confessed: "I could not believe the response," noting: "I thought there would be a reaction, but I wasn't expecting this at all."

"I had been running for a long time, and I loved it," she explained. "But one of my knees was starting to hurt, and on the weekends, when I did my [marathon] training runs, it got to a point where they were just so long that once I finished them, I didn't want to do anything the rest of the day. I just wanted to lie on the sofa and eat chips."

"I've got three little kids who don't want to just lie on the sofa and eat chips. And also, honestly, I found out that you cannot outrun treat overload. There was a vanity aspect to it," she added.

© Getty Images

Her viral photos were from her fourth competition, but this was the first time she shared anything publicly about this new world she has discovered and joined. "At first, I was like, I'm not sure I'm ready for this yet," she said of when one of the program directors at her foundation, Miyo, who attended the competition, asked if she could post a photo of her.

"But she's actually one of the strongest women I know," Elizabeth continued. "She's embraced being a sexual being, and yet she is one of the biggest advocates for women I know. And I just [thought], I can be both. I can be sexy, and I can be an advocate. I am more than just one thing."

"I understand why I was scared to share, but those are the same exact reasons why victims don't share. And so I [decided] I should do this because it's empowering for me, but also maybe it's empowering for other victims to be like, If Elizabeth Smart can step up on stage in a bikini, I can go report to the police," she maintained.

Elizabeth further detailed how her relationship with her own boy has evolved through bodybuilding. "I was raised very conservatively, and even in school, [we were taught] the more conservative you dress, the more likely you are to get a job. Covering up your body is how you're going to be taken seriously. We see this a lot, particularly in the field of victims," she said.

© Getty Images

"It's very easy to sit back and judge victims and be like, 'Well, did you see how she was dressed?' I don't even want to say it, but clearly she's just, you know…" she went on. "Asking for it. I have said for years, it shouldn't matter how you're dressed or what you're doing, you could be walking down the street naked, and you still wouldn't be asking for that. 

"I believe that wholeheartedly. So I feel like this bodybuilding journey has made those words more true to me. They already were, but it validated it even more because stepping on stage in a bikini is not me trying to sexualize my body [or] inviting unwanted attention, it's not an invitation sexually for anyone. This is me being, like, I have worked so hard on my body," she emphasized.