Elizabeth Smart Admits Feeling 'Embarrassed' About Being Sexually Assaulted During Horrific Kidnapping in New Documentary — 'I Felt I'd Be Judged for It'

Ahead of Elizabeth Smart baring her soul in an upcoming documentary, the kidnapping and rape victim is speaking out about how she felt "embarrassed' by her harrowing ordeal and worried she would be "judged," RadarOnline.com can reveal.

Smart, 38, was just 14 when she was abducted at knifepoint from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah, on June 5, 2002, by crazed lunatic and pedophile Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee. She endured nine months in captivity before she was rescued in March 2003.

Smart's traumatic nightmare, where she was raped up to four times a day by Mitchell and often tethered to a tree, ended after a witness spotted the trio walking down the street in Sandy, Utah, after seeing their story on America's Most Wanted and called the police.

While the nation rejoiced that Smart was found alive, having to live as a rape and kidnapping survivor was initially gut-wrenching for the devout Mormon.

"After I was rescued, I was very embarrassed by what had happened to me," Smart revealed in a new interview published on Thursday, January 15.

"Even though my head totally knew it wasn’t my fault, I couldn’t make my heart feel the same way. I felt I’d be judged for it. I ended up feeling very alone and very isolated," she heartbreakingly shared.

While Smart's story has been told several times in the 22 years since her rescue, the Netflix documentary Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart, premiering on January 21, explores the profound psychological and emotional toll endured by the then-teenager and her family.

It includes never-before-seen archival materials, and Smart opens up like never before about what she went through both in captivity and after her rescue.

"I want survivors to know they are not alone. There's so many of us. And I want people who have never experienced this to get a taste of what it’s really like — the depth of fear — to be forced to do things you would never do. There’s a purpose to sharing my story," she shared about her life-altering ordeal.

After a four-week trial in 2010, Mitchell was convicted of interstate kidnapping and transporting a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual activity and sentenced to life in prison.

Barzee pleaded guilty in 2009 to kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor in a deal with prosecutors and cooperated in their case against her estranged husband. She was granted an early release from her 15-year federal prison sentence in 2018.

Smart told Netflix's Tudum, "There will be victims and survivors who watch this, and I hope they realize they’re not alone, and that they don’t have to be ashamed of what happened to them. And I hope that people who watch this can gain compassion and understanding for other families who are going through this."

The documentary also has a message of hope, as the Elizabeth Smart Foundation founder explained, "I also hope it brings comfort that there are happy endings — and that even after terrible things happen, you can still have a wonderful life."

Smart married Scotsman Matthew Gilmour in February 2012, a year after they met while both were on Mormon missions in France.

The couple shares three young children.