One yet-to-be-posed question still spooks Smart, however. And she remains unsure what exactly to say if her kids ever ask, “Will that happen to me?”
“I’ve spoken with a lot of parents and [they] always ask me, ‘How do I talk to our children?'” Smart said. “Quite frankly, I’m not a parenting expert, I only have the experience of raising my own kids.”
On her end, she continued, “I’m looking for that answer myself. I want to be honest with my kids and I want them to know, this world, not everybody has your best interest at heart. But I don’t want them to live in fear.”
Aiding her in that quest is her husband of 12 years, whom she credits for his uncanny ability to know when she needs to have it her way and when her concerns could stand to be taken down a notch.
“He’s always been there for me,” Smart said of Matthew, a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, she met while both were doing missionary work in Paris. “He’s always respected if I’ve said no, or ‘I’m not ok with this.’ He’s also been the counterbalance to me, when I’m like, [in a mock-hysterical tone], ‘But I can’t let anyone out! No one can step a foot outside! Nobody can do anything unless I’m there!'”
Returning to her normal register, she added, “He’s there to calm me down a little bit, to even us out.”
The Girl Locked Upstairs: The Tanya Kach Story premieres Saturday, June 8, at 8 p.m. on Lifetime, followed by Beyond the Headlines: The Tanya Kach Story With Elizabeth Smart.
