The child safety advocate said she waited to share the photos because she feared judgment.
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Elizabeth Smart has publicly revealed a private turn into competitive bodybuilding, sharing photos from a Utah fitness show where the child safety advocate later placed first in one category.
Smart, 38, said the bodybuilding stage marked a major personal step after years of public advocacy tied to her 2002 kidnapping and rescue. Her post drew wide attention because she said the sport had pushed her into a new form of confidence, while also raising old fears about how survivors are labeled.
Smart posted the competition photos Tuesday after taking part in the Wasatch Warrior bodybuilding and fitness competition in Salt Lake City. The event was held April 17 and April 18 and included amateur athletes across several divisions. Smart said the show was not her first time competing, but it was the first time she felt ready to share the experience publicly. “I understand the shock,” Smart wrote, saying she would have rejected the idea of bodybuilding a few years ago. She said the Utah event was actually her fourth competition.
The competition update became larger the next day when reports showed Smart had earned first place in the Fit Model Novice category. She also placed second in another Fit Model category and third in Fit Model Masters 35+. Smart competed under her married name, Elizabeth Gilmour, after marrying Matthew Gilmour in 2012. The Fit Model division has been described in bodybuilding coverage as an entry point for women who compete in a stage-ready fitness look. Smart appeared onstage in a blue competition suit, posing with other athletes and later holding awards from the event.
Smart said she had kept earlier competitions private because she worried the photos could change how people viewed her work. She wrote that she feared being judged, taken less seriously or seen as “unworthy” to continue as an advocate for survivors. She said that fear felt familiar because many survivors are placed into narrow public roles after trauma. Smart wrote that people are more than “one topic, one idea, one label,” and said she did not want to reach the end of her life feeling she had lived only a half-life.
The post tied her fitness journey to her larger public story without making the competition only about her past. Smart was 14 when she was abducted from her Salt Lake City bedroom in June 2002. She was found in March 2003 after nine months in captivity. Brian David Mitchell, who kidnapped her, is serving a life prison sentence. Wanda Barzee, who also was convicted in the case, was released from prison in 2018 after completing her sentence. Smart later became an author, speaker and advocate focused on child safety, exploitation prevention and support for survivors.
Smart said bodybuilding gave her another way to think about strength after years of being known mainly for surviving a crime. “I am so proud of my body, and I want to celebrate it,” she wrote. She said her body had carried her through the worst days of her life, through hard experiences and through the birth and care of three children. Smart said the sport was difficult and had challenged her not to quit. She framed the post as a statement about refusing shame, not as a shift away from advocacy.
Trainer Robyn Maher said Smart had worked through a long preparation period before the latest competition. Maher said Smart trained with weights up to six days a week and followed a strict meal plan while preparing for the stage. Maher also said Smart was not seeking attention when she first began competing and had started by setting a private goal. After her first Wasatch Warrior appearance about a year earlier, Smart competed two more times, including at a national-level event, before returning to the Salt Lake City show.
Maher said Smart improved through the process and earned her placing through the same judging system as other athletes. “It’s a journey,” Maher said, adding that Smart had gone through a transformation. Maher said she became emotional after reading Smart’s comments about her body carrying her through hard things. She said Smart’s decision to speak openly showed courage and gave other women a public example of setting a new goal after difficult chapters.
The bodybuilding reveal also fits a pattern in Smart’s recent public life. In 2021, she appeared on “The Masked Dancer” as Ms. Moth and later said the show let her do something joyful after years spent on serious issues. The fitness stage marked another public step outside the role most closely linked to her name. Unlike the television appearance, however, Smart’s bodybuilding run stayed private for months before she chose to post the photos herself.
Smart has not announced a next competition date, though Maher said new goals had been set after the Utah event. For now, the public update stands as both a competition result and a personal statement from Smart about claiming more space in her own life.
Author note: Last updated April 23, 2026.