Kriti Mehrotra
Although Utah native Elizabeth Smart always dreamt of finding her true love and having a family one day, there was a time when she didn’t know if it would even be possible owing to her trauma. After all, she was just 14 years old when she was abducted from her bedroom at her family’s home on June 5, 2002, following which she was held captive and abused for over nine months. As explored in Netflix’s ‘Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart,’ she was eventually rescued with the help of her loved ones as well as the entire community, but the ordeal left an invisible scar on her.
Elizabeth Smart Has Been Happily Married Since 2012
It was in 2009 when Elizabeth Smart first came across Aberdeen, Scotland, native Matthew Gilmour by pure chance in Paris, France, while they were reportedly both on a Mormon mission trip. According to their own accounts, he left an impression because he didn’t recognize her as a kidnapping victim or a survivor, enabling them to get to know one another as who they really are. “The thing that attracted me the most to her — at the beginning and now — is how confident she is, especially considering everything she has been through,” he candidly told People back in 2012.
What neither ever expected was that their connection would gradually evolve from a pure friendship to a passionate romance, with Matthew even visiting Elizabeth often in the United States. In fact, he traveled all the way to Salt Lake City to ask her parents’ permission to propose before getting down on one knee with a sapphire ring on a hillside near her home in January 2012. She ecstatically said yes, leading to their beautiful, cozy, and intimate wedding ceremony at Laie Temple — a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — on the northeast shore of Oahu, Hawaii, around a month later, on February 18.
As per records, Elizabeth and Matthew originally planned to tie the knot in her hometown, but they moved it up and changed the location to somewhere that held a special place in her heart. Oahu, Hawaii, is where the then-teenager and her family had vacationed to get away from all the noise in the wake of her rescue in 2003, meaning that’s where she had found a sense of happiness. “Oahu is a very special place for me, very different than what I was used to,” she once told People. “I guess you could say it was kind of a refuge.” She hence wanted to commemorate it as the spot where she began another new chapter of her life.
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Elizabeth Smart Has a Beautiful Family, Which Includes Three Children
Following a dream wedding, Elizabeth and Matthew joyously began building a life and a family together, eventually welcoming three adorable children into the world. Their firstborn, Chloé Gilmour, came into their lives in February 2015. Two years later, in April 2017, James Gilmour was born, bringing joy and warmth to the household. The couple completed their family a year later with the birth of their youngest child, Olivia Gilmour, in November 2018. Since then, they have happily settled in Wasatch County, Utah, where they lead a rather ordinary life full of everyday activities.
Whether it be bingeing shows like ‘The Great British Baking Show,’ making hot chocolate as a family, maintaining a routine with school drop-offs and pick-ups, or taking skiing vacations, the Gilmours do it all. Elizabeth is admittedly very protective of her young ones owing to her past, but she has made them aware of her experiences to ensure they understand where she is coming from. She once told People that her worry for their safety is “never-ending,” but she is also careful not to scare them, because while she wants them to be cautious, she doesn’t want them to live their lives in fear.
“My children have brought so much happiness and joy. To me, they’re the very definition of love,” Elizabeth said. “…I will never regret being there for my children, watching them, making sure they’ll be okay. But I might regret not being there for them.” Therefore, it’s evident that Elizabeth, Matthew, and their three children are making the most of their time as individuals as well as a family, especially through activities like horse riding and skiing that they enjoy together. We should also mention that, on a professional level, while the survivor is a prominent advocate for crime victims and missing children, her husband is a corporate worker currently serving as the Venue Services Director at Sodexo Live.
