COMMENTARY | Reuters reports former kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart got married at a Mormon temple in Hawaii. That’s not unusual. That it happened before the summer was a surprise to the media.
Score one for Smart, who is now Mrs. Matthew Gilmour. She described her kidnapping as “nine months of hell.” Now it seems the media was encroaching upon that territory of making her life hellish.
In was called the “increasingly invasive” media, Smart and her husband changed wedding plans from the summer to Feb. 18. The venue was the Laie Hawaii Temple, according to ABC News. It rests on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The couple was married in front of a small group of family members and close friends.
Really, that’s what a wedding is all about. A celebration of love among people who know you the best. Good for Smart and her family who decided to throw the media off the beaten trail. As a private citizen who has endured far more than most Americans can imagine, she should have just been left alone to have the happiest day of her life in peace.
Even the bride’s father called the wedding a “spur of the moment thing.” Everyone in attendance was simply happy she was married.
The couple met on a mission trip in Paris. Gilmour is from Aberdeen, Scotland. Smart is a senior at Brigham Young University in Utah. Smart is 24 and has her whole life ahead of her. Thankfully her married life will start without the glare of intense media scrutiny.
The reality show “Survivor” has the motto “Outwit. Outplay. Outlast.” Because of what the young lady went through 10 years ago, Smart was able to live up to her maiden name and do just that to those media types who were invading her privacy. No one wants uninvited guests at a wedding.
Smart’s kidnapping in 2002 and then her brave testimony in 2010 put Brian David Mitchell behind bars for life after the nine-month ordeal. She was kidnapped from her home as a 14-year-old teenager and held for nine months mere miles from her home. Mitchell and his wife were convicted in Smart’s abduction. She is now an advocate for missing persons and is a regular contributor to ABC News.