elizabeth smartIt's been almost 10 years since Elizabeth Smart was thrust into the public eye after she was abducted from her bed at the age of 14 and held captive by now convicted kidnappers Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee. Thankfully, these days, life's a lot brighter for Smart, who works as the missing persons expert/pundit for Good Morning America and Nightline and will soon be getting married! Smart reportedly got engaged recently, and the buzz is that she's elated about tying the knot "later this year." 

Apparently, those happy but few details aren't enough to satiate our news appetites. Media has asked for more, more, more from Smart -- the specifics related to the proposal, the wedding, and the groom (though The Salt Lake Tribune says he's a fellow Mormon from Scotland named Matthew Gilmour who met Smart while she was doing a LDS mission in France last year). So far, Smart's publicist won't spill much ... And he's keeping mum for a very good reason.

As her publicist explained, Smart "plans to be involved with her public advocacy work, she really feels she needs to keep her personal life private. She is going to be involved in child advocacy work for a long, long time and really decided that she wants to keep her husband and [future] children out of the public spotlight."

Good for her!!!

Given that the woman's life has been a spectacle for nearly a decade now, and also, of course, after what she went through during those nine horrific months of her kidnapping, 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! If she wants to volunteer any info as time goes on, that's one thing. But as curious as we are to learn more about her wonderful news, we've gotta understand and respect her wishes to keep that news out of the public eye. 

Smart has commented once on the matter, exclusively to ABC News. She said, "I'm so excited. We are looking forward to a bright future together.” And you know what, that's all we really need to know to be overjoyed for her.

Do you think it's possible for Elizabeth Smart to keep her personal life private?

 

Image via George Frey/Getty