(Image source: The Salt Late Tribune/Facebook)
BY EMILY SPAIN
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Wedding bells will ring for well-known kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart.
The 24-year-old Mormon is engaged and wedding plans are set for sometime this summer according to People magazine.
Smart’s name made headlines when she was kidnapped from her home in Utah at age 14. She was sexually abused and kept in hiding for nine months before escaping, and testified in front of her kidnapper in 2010. Now - Smart works as a child advocate and an ABC News contributor.
Her decision to tie the knot has the media buzzing about wedding plans - but there’s little to be said.
So far, The Salt Lake Tribune reports online wedding registries show Smart will marry Matthew Gilmour who’s from Scotland this summer. Why all the secrecy? Smart’s rep tells Us Magazine...
" … she wants to keep the details of her personal life private. She wants to continue to be involved with her child advocacy work, but, at the same time, she doesn't want her husband or children to be in the spotlight."
In response to Smart’s silence, a writer for The Stir says good for her, praising Smart’s decision to keep her private life on the D-L.
“Given that the woman's life has been a spectacle for nearly a decade … it should come as no surprise that she wants some privacy. And knowing that all she wants is to keep what's close to her heart out of the headlines, any sort of poking and prying around, asking family members for details, or trying to get Smart or her publicist to dish just feels so wrong and tacky!”
But, it seems the motive for knowing Smart’s story is largely good-natured. Many are happy for the lovebirds and glad Smart’s past hasn’t kept her from finding Prince Charming. A writer for Gather says:
“Congratulations to Elizabeth Smart and the Smart family on this exciting and very encouraging news. It's not often that a child kidnapping victim and victim of sexual abuse winds up to lead such a fulfilling and successful life.”
Smart’s dad told People Magazine the couple’s engagement didn’t surprise him -- and the family is happy for this next stage in his daughter’s life.
Transcript by Newsy.
