Elizabeth Smart broke her silence to the nation for the first time Friday night when she spoke with "Today" show host Katie Couric — saying she feels she hasn't really changed.
Walking through the mountains near her family's cabin, the blond Salt Lake teenager told Couric the best part of being home was "just being back and not having to like be told I'm a horrible, wicked, evil girl every 10 seconds."
Elizabeth said her nine-month kidnapping, allegedly at the hands of two religious zealots, has made her more compassionate for the homeless.
"I think there are some things different about me, but I think I'm pretty much the same person," she told Couric.
Speaking with the inflections typical of a teenage girl, Elizabeth said she's adjusting to life as a high school sophomore, albeit a very famous one.
"There are always, like, those weirdos at school. . . . As I walk down the hall, they yell out 'Hey, Elizabeth Smart.' "
Couric's conversation with the 15-year-old is one of two interviews Elizabeth has given since she was reunited with her family on March 12.
Oprah Winfrey also spoke with Elizabeth as part of an interview with the Smart family at their Federal Heights residence. The piece will air Monday on "Oprah" on KTVX, Ch. 4.
These two interviews with nationally known television personalities could be the last time Elizabeth speaks to reporters in the near future, her father, Ed Smart, told the Deseret Morning News prior to the airing of Friday's special.
"I don't think Elizabeth is going to interview with anyone. I think she's had more than her share," he said.
Before her interviews with Couric and Winfrey, Elizabeth's parents had not allowed her to be interviewed by any reporters. Several requests for interviews by the Deseret Morning News were never granted.
The decision to speak with Couric was left largely up to Elizabeth, her father said.
"Basically, Elizabeth was allowed to say yes or no to what she wanted to do," Ed Smart said.
The majority of Couric's piece was taken from an interview with Elizabeth's father and mother, Lois Smart. The couple recounted the nine-month ordeal to bring their daughter home and the details that have emerged in the seven months since Elizabeth was found alive. The details were similar to those revealed in the Smart's newly published book "Bringing Elizabeth Home: A Journey of Faith and Hope."
Her parents discussed some of the details of Elizabeth's kidnapping that she has shared with them since returning home. Their daughter was tethered to a tree with a system of cables and forced to work at the campsite where Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee allegedly held her captive in the hills just three miles from the Smart home.
Their book and interview revealed the quiet strength that likely helped Elizabeth survive the ordeal.
At one point, Elizabeth actually tried to escape from the crude campsite, her parents told Couric.
"One time he (Mitchell) didn't put the cable back on her, and he and Wanda were fighting and arguing so Elizabeth tried to slip away, and so of course he came running after her and threatened her," Lois Smart said.
Mitchell also made Elizabeth burn the red pajamas she was wearing when she was taken at knife point from her own bedroom, her mother said. He also forced her to write only what he told her in a diary, she said.
"She had the presence of mind to use French and write in French," Lois said.
"His intimidation was such that she didn't know who she could trust or who she could believe," Ed Smart said.
Besides their book, the Smarts also allowed their story to be told in a made-for-TV movie that will air Nov. 9 on CBS.
Meanwhile, the court case against Elizabeth's alleged captors, Mitchell and Barzee, is on hold while mental competency evaluations are completed. Mitchell is scheduled for a status conference Monday afternoon.
Mitchell and Barzee, who are charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary and aggravated sexual assault, were spotted March 12 walking down State Street in Sandy with Elizabeth in tow.
E-mail: djensen@desnews.com