Elizabeth Smart, the woman who was abducted at knifepoint when she was only 14-years-old, told CBS “This Morning’s” Gayle King she was sexually assaulted on a Delta Air Lines flight last year.
She said she was on a flight in the summer of 2019 when the man sitting next to her touched her while she slept.
“I had been asleep and all of a sudden I woke up because I felt someone’s hand rubbing in between my legs on my inner thigh,” Smart told King. “The last time someone touched me without my say-so was when I was kidnapped. And I froze. I didn’t know what to do. And I speak to other women about this.”
Smart said during her interview that the incident sparked her to launch “Smart Defense.” It’s a self-defense program to help give women and girls the skills they need to protect themselves.
During the interview, Smart also said she filed a formal complaint with Delta Air Lines.
Elizabeth Smart was 14-year-old old when she was taken from her Salt Lake City home. She was taken by Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee before being raped, drugged and held captive for nine months.
She was later found while walking with Barzee and Mitchell on a street in the suburb of Sandy, Utah, by people who recognized the couple from media reports.
Smart, now married with two children, has written a book about the ordeal.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
