Elizabeth Smart's New Podcast Centers Survivor Voices
Elizabeth Smart, abducted at 14 and found alive nine months later, is launching a podcast that puts crime survivors at the heart of their own stories. "The Survivor Files" flips the true crime script by focusing on healing and resilience instead of perpetrators.
Elizabeth Smart knows what happens after the cameras stop rolling and the headlines fade. Now she's creating space for other survivors to share not just their trauma, but their triumph.
Smart is launching "The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart" this month through iHeartPodcasts and Marwar Junction Productions. The 48-episode weekly series puts survivors of abductions, home invasions, and assaults at the center of their own narratives.
Most true crime podcasts focus on investigations and criminals. This one asks a different question: what happens after?
Smart was abducted from her Salt Lake City home in 2002 at age 14 and found alive nine months later. Her story made international headlines, but the decades since have defined her differently. She became a child safety advocate and voice for trauma recovery, using her experience to help others navigate their hardest moments.
The podcast pairs documentary storytelling with intimate conversations between Smart and survivors. Special episodes will include listener questions, creating a community around healing rather than horror.
"My hope is to honor the extraordinary strength, resilience, hope and courage of survivors," Smart says. "Each of our stories are unique, but so many share a common thread: the strength to keep moving forward in the face of hell."
The Ripple Effect
True crime is one of podcasting's most popular genres, but it often centers perpetrators over the people they hurt. Smart's approach offers something different: a roadmap for rebuilding.
By focusing on life after trauma, the podcast creates space for conversations about justice, recovery, and finding strength in impossible circumstances. It reminds listeners that survivors are more than what happened to them.
iHeartPodcasts President Will Pearson says Smart brings "a deeply personal perspective to stories that deserve to be told with compassion." Her lived experience transforms the genre from spectacle to service.
The series runs every Monday for 48 weeks, giving survivors a platform they rarely get: time to tell their whole story, not just the worst chapter.
Smart's message is simple but powerful: we are so much stronger than we believed.
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Based on reporting by Google: survivor story
This story was written by BrightWire based on verified news reports.
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