Elizabeth Smart Reveals Why Her Kidnappers and Sex Abusers Remind Her of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell (Exclusive)

Elizabeth Smart says the couple who kidnapped and abused her remind her in striking ways of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell — another powerful pair accused of exploiting vulnerable girls.

Smart was just 14 years old when Brian David Mitchell broke into her Salt Lake City, Utah, home in 2002 and kidnapped her at knifepoint in her bedroom while her little sister pretended to be asleep.

For nine long months, Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, held her captive at abandoned campsites in San Diego, Calif., and Utah.

During her imprisonment, Smart was repeatedly raped, sometimes up to four times a day.

During the harrowing sexual assaults, Barzee often sat next to Smart, sometimes with her body up against Smart’s while Mitchell raped her.

“I mean, not only did Wanda facilitate, but she also encouraged my rapes,” Smart, 38, tells PEOPLE. “And from everything that I've learned about Ghislaine Maxwell, she did the same thing. I think she provided — from what I understand — she provided girls, she provided the experiences to happen.”

Smart is opening up to PEOPLE ahead of the publication of her latest book, Detours: Hope & Growth After Life's Hardest Turns, debuting in December.

As the bestselling author of My Story and ​​When There’s Hope: Healing, Moving Forward, and Never Giving Up, Smart says she wrote this latest book to help readers cope with life-altering challenges.

Noting that her books have been about “patterns” in her life, she says, with “this one in particular — how many times are you planning to make it somewhere and then, you know, going down one of the canyons, you can't go any further because landslide, car accident—something happens — and you're forced to either sit there and legitimately not move for hours or find a different way down?”

There is a process to getting back on track or altering your life, says Smart, now an activist and the married mother of three. “I think it's okay to be sad. It's okay to grieve the path that you thought you were on and maybe the life you'd imagined for yourself. And … it’s okay to ask for help.”

In Smart’s case, she was rescued in March 2003 after people who had seen America’s Most Wanted saw Mitchell walking around Sandy, Utah, with two females, including Smart, disguised in a gray wig and sunglasses, and called 911, PEOPLE reported at the time. 

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Mitchell and Barzee were immediately arrested on suspicion of aggravated kidnapping, but it took nearly eight years for the pair to be brought to trial. 

In 2009, Barzee pleaded guilty to kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor and was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, according to The New York Times. 

Released in 2018, Barzee, now 79, was arrested and charged in May with violating the conditions of her release by going to state parks. 

In December 2010, Mitchell was found guilty of kidnapping and transporting a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual activity, The New York Times reported. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Epstein, already a convicted sex offender, was facing trial for federal sex trafficking when he died in jail in 2019. Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking in 2022 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence. 

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.