Elizabeth Smart Engaged!

[bekkah]

I just went to people and there was an article about it. Here's the link: http://www.people.com/people/article/0, ... 69,00.html.

I hope she can be happy and can live a successful life. I just really hope this is what she wants and is not doing it because she is becoming an old maid.

[simplysweet]

I hope she gets her wish and it is a quiet affair........poor girl. She deserves to be happy.

[bionicmlle]

Wow -- good for her. I, too, hope she has gotten the help she needs to have a happy and healthy intimate relationship.

[Jessica]

Wow, good one, People Magazine. "Elizabeth has requested privacy... BUT WE FOUND OUT HER FIANCE'S NAME, WHERE THEY'RE REGISTERED, AND THE DATE SO HERE THEY ARE!" :naughty:

[Mais Pourquoi]

What a nice happy ending. Elizabeth Smart and I are the same age and the crazy story of how she went missing and was later found stick out to me as much as any other high school memories. It's good to hear she plans on keeping up with her child advocacy work.

[ADoyle90815]

Good for her. I hope she got the help she needs to be able to have a healthy relationship.

[supernova8610]

Good for her! :) The poor girl needs some happiness after what happened. I just hope she was able to get the counseling/therapy she needed (which she probably did). I wish her all the best!

[valsa]

I just hope she was able to get the counseling/therapy she needed (which she probably did).

Unfortunately, I vaguely remember her parents seeming unsupportive of therapy (iirc, they were big on her just "putting it behind her" without follow-up services) Maybe her husband-to-be will encourage therapy?

[Witsec7]

Elizabeth was counseled an anointed by LDS elders. She received no professional therapy according to news sources, her mother is on record stating she would not receive therapy and got all the help she needed from the elders.

[simplysweet]

Elizabeth was counseled an anointed by LDS elders. She received no professional therapy according to news sources, her mother is on record stating she would not receive therapy and got all the help she needed from the elders.

Eh------ really? I hope it helped. She seems very happy and rather well adjusted. I hope it is not a mask.

[Soulhuntress]

I really hope she does not have flashbacks. Really really hope and pray that is the case. No therapy is not a good sign and some olive oil and insincere prayers by LDS elders IS.NOT.COUNSELING FFS. :angry-banghead:

[Witsec7]

On her last tv interview, she stated that it was the folks praying for her that helped her recover. She agreed with her family about not having professional therapy. Their argument against it was it would make her relive her trauma every time she had a counseling session.

I hope so, she will be raising a kids, and I'd hate to see her get really knocked down from PPD. She's gotta be locked down pretty tightly to avoid triggers.

[Austin]

Every time I see her on television, she seems to have a really vacant look behind her eyes. I can't get over the feeling when I see her that this is going to catch up with her, although I hope I'm wrong and she has a really happy, peaceful life.

But she was in the hands of a rapist and brainwasher for what? Something like nine months? How are "the elders" qualified to deal with that?

[YPestis]

I'm glad she found someone. Sex abuse victims can sometimes find it difficult to be intimate and enjoy close relationships. She appears to have found her calling as a child abuse advocate and I hope she finds success in her new career.

[hoipolloi]

Hope this is as good for her as it seems to be.

Agree with Austin about the emptiness in the eyes. The photo with the People article shows a young woman whose smile doesn't reach her eyes.

[luckylibrarian]

I agree, Austin. Something about this photo in particular is very sad. The perfect hair, perfect makeup, pearls, and forced smile seem so Stepfordish and sad. It makes it seem like her parents have forced her to play perfect Mormon daughter. I hope she isn't forced to be a perfect Mormon wife. I hope no one pressures her to start having kids right away, unless that is what she wants.

ETA: Here's another article! http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7053 ... anned.html

There are photos of the couple from her Facebook page. She looks really happy with him - genuinely happy.

[Rachel333]

Well I'm happy for her.

And really, maybe she's still struggling (as most people probably would be, therapy or not) or not, but I don't think you can tell if you don't know her. I know even if I really am happy it tends to look super fake in posed pictures.

[clover_leigh]

I hope she has a happy life now. Well...as happy as possible given the circumstances. Im still one of THOSE people who thinks there could have been a little more to the story than was put out there,and I dont 100% trust her parents. But good for her,nonetheless.

[DistantStar]

She dresses and is made up like a 50-year-old woman. Which is fine on a 50-year-old woman but weird on somebody in their mid-20s.

I hope she's doing well. I don't care how awesome the LDS folks who prayed with her are, though, they have no actual training. There is no way I'd rely on that alone after something like this. Heck, my priest is (or was, anyway, before the priest thing) an actual therapist and I'm quite sure he'd refer me to experts if I had a major psych problem.

And I truly hope they are happy together. She deserves it.

[xDreamerx]

I guess I'm not the only one who sees the vacant eye thing.

I always assumed she received real counseling because it just seemed logical to me. I wouldn't be surprised if they gave her some fucked up spin on what happened to her and as a result she has not fully dealt with the trauma.

I hope she can be truly happy and have a good, healthy marriage. I hope if she does have future issues, she is able to seek proper care and help.

[muffynbear]

I always found Ed Smart to be very creepy, and sleazy for some reason.

[Lainey]

I also hope she'll be happy, because she certainly deserves it, but I agree that there's a vacant, haunted look behind her eyes. In the article luckylibrarian posted, she says her mother told her that Brian David Mitchell may have taken 9 months of her life, but she mustn't allow him to take one minute more. To me, that sounds like a command to not talk about it and try not to think about it. I don't think it sound healthy.

Her husband-to-be looks like a nice guy. I hope he is.

[bionicmlle]

I agree it always seemed strange to me that her family was not supportive of therapy. When they were on Oprah (maybe two years ago??), Oprah seemed stunned and dismayed by this as well. I think the line the Smarts gave was something like "if she needs it in the future, she can pursue it."

[koolmom]

Daddy Ed gave me the creeps, too! Something about his smarmy use-car salesman manner made my skin crawl...

I also hope poor Elizabeth doesn't have flashbacks, particularly on her wedding night or soon after? Or if/when she gets pregnant (which will probably be real soon, I'm guessing) and has to go through the throes of labor? She sure looks hollow-eyed, to me, too.

[Mama Mia]

I agree she probably should have gotten therapy, and it is disturbing that her family didn't encourage it. There are plenty of religious counselors and therapist who have real training that could have helped her.

But the phrase and concept of not letting some harmful person take one more minute of your life is very common, and isn't meant to have people sweep it under the rug, or as a order -- it is meant to give the victim back some power.