On Wednesday, Fox’s The Masked Dancer revealed the identity of Ms. Moth: activist, bestselling author, and survivor Elizabeth Smart.
On June 5, 2002, Elizabeth Smart was abducted at knifepoint from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah. Over the next nine months, Smart was assaulted and terrorized until she was rescued by police officers on March 12, 2003, on a public street in Sandy, Utah, 18 miles from her home. Her abductors, Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee, are both still around, with the former still imprisoned and the latter released and on probation until 2024.
In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, Smart talked about why she decided to join The Masked Dancer: She wanted to have fun.
I’ve dedicated really a lot of my life since I was rescued from being kidnapped to serious issues — to abuse prevention, and trying to help save kidnapping victims, and trying to help teach people how to respond kindly and compassionately towards the victims, and trying to prevent rape and sexual violence, and teaching people of the difference between enthusiastic consent and rape, because anything outside of enthusiastic consent is rape.
So I’ve spent so much time working in this field that when I was sitting there thinking about it at my grandma’s funeral, I just thought, you know what, why not? Life is already hard enough. I mean, not to mention 2020. I don’t think anyone would come back and say, “Oh, yeah, 2020, best year of my life” — or there would be very few people who would say that. And I just thought, this has already been a hard year, so why not do something that’s fun? Why not do something that brings a little bit of light to my life and maybe to people watching? I mean, why not? Life, for all its seriousness, I think it’s also good to have fun. And I think it’s also good to do something outside of your comfort zone, or at least it is for me. So, I guess for me more than anyone else, I just wanted to do something fun. It’s okay to have fun.
It is okay to have fun, and with everything going on in the world, mental health is more important than we sometimes allow it to be. So many people have lost loved ones, have fallen into the clutches of depression, and just have been afraid to go outside for the sake of other people close to them.
I’m glad that Elizabeth Smart took some time to take care of herself. She has spent her entire life giving back, and taking some bit of joy in this chaotic world is a lesson we should all take in right now. Kudos to Elizabeth Smart and everyone out there. Just be kind to yourself.
(via EW, image: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
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