Elizabeth Smart’s 3 Kids: All About Chloé, James and Olivia (and What They Know About Their Mother’s Horrific Kidnapping)

There was a time in Elizabeth Smart’s life when she didn’t know if she would ever be married or have a family.

The author and activist was just a teenager when she was abducted from her bedroom at her family’s Salt Lake City home on June 5, 2002. She was held captive and abused for nine months before she was eventually recognized and rescued.

Over the past two decades, she has worked to overcome the harrowing experience, marrying her husband, Matthew Gilmour, in 2012 and welcoming three children: Chloé, 10, James, 8, and Olivia, 6.

“My children have brought so much happiness and joy. To me, they’re the very definition of love,” she told PEOPLE in 2017.

Although she loves her role as a mother, Smart admits that she’s more overprotective than most, struggling to find a balance between letting her little ones be adventurous and wondering if they’re safe.

“There’s a part of me that’s always thinking, ‘Are the windows shut? Where is she at? Who is by her? Can I see her?’ I don’t want to let Chloé out of my sight,” Smart told PEOPLE when Chloé was just a toddler. “I will never regret being there for my children, watching them, making sure they’ll be okay. But I might regret not being there for them.”

Now that they’re older, Smart has shared some of her personal story with her kids, explaining that it’s why she’s so protective — and hoping she can instill in them lessons that will always keep them safe.

Here’s everything to know about Elizabeth Smart’s three children, Chloé, James and Olivia.

Smart has welcomed three children since 2015

In 2012, Smart and Gilmour tied the knot in a ceremony in Hawaii after a year of dating. The couple, who met when they were both doing Mormon mission work in Paris, opted for a secret destination with only family members in attendance.

Shortly after, Smart shared that children were definitely in the couple’s future and that her “greatest aspiration” was to be a mom.

“I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my mom,” she told PEOPLE in 2014. “My mom is a hero and has influenced my life more than any other person, and I’d like to have that same influence on my children.”

The following year, the couple welcomed their first child, Chloé, on Feb. 7, 2015. Two years later, Smart announced that she was expecting once again, sharing the news in a sweet family photo from Halloween in which her costume featured a baby skeleton graphic on her belly.

James was born several months later in April 2017, with the couple sharing news of his arrival in an Easter snapshot of Chloé cuddling her baby brother. At the time, Smart’s father, Edward, told PEOPLE that his daughter was “extremely happy” to be a new mom again.

Smart and Gilmour rounded out their family a year later with the birth of their youngest child, Olivia, who was born in November 2018.

Smart’s children are aware of their mother’s abduction story

As her children have gotten older, Smart has opened up about parts of her terrifying kidnapping ordeal. Her older daughter, Chloé, began asking questions when she was just 5 years old, and Smart has been thoughtful in her answers.

“With all my children, really, I certainly never want to hide what happened in the past, because every single one of us has a past,” she shared in an interview with E! News in 2021.

She continued, “Every single one of us has had something happen in our lives. It’s unrealistic to think that we will all just have a perfect life. We will all face hardships and struggles, in whatever form that may be, and so I have begun to speak to her as she asked questions. But with that being said, it’s not all at once. And it’s age-appropriate, to the best of my ability.”

Several years later, Smart shared that all three of her children knew about the kidnapping but “not in extreme detail.”

“They could tell you the overarching story of what happened, but they couldn’t tell you details,” Smart told PEOPLE in June 2024. “Now it’s to a point that I just say, ‘If and when you want to talk about it more, we can.’ And they seem pretty content with where they’re at right now. And I guess I’ll just take it day by day as it comes.”

The safety of her children is her first priority

Given her past, Smart is admittedly quite protective of her children and feels that the worry for their safety is “never-ending.” Although she says she doesn’t want them to grow up in fear because of her past, she does want them to “be aware of the world” and “be aware of what can happen.”

“I don’t want them to put other people’s feelings or emotions over their own safety. I want them to know that their safety is more important to me than worrying about offending someone else,” she told PEOPLE in 2024.

She added, “I felt like when they were born, my heart just decided to take up residence in my throat. It probably definitely makes me a little bit more on the paranoid side of things. And those times that the paranoia comes out, I usually ask them, ‘Do you know why I’m the way I am?’ And my little boy will be like, ‘Yes, you don’t want us to get hurt. You want to keep us safe?’ I’m like, ‘Okay, then don’t do that.’ ”

Smart and her children love riding horses together

Smart and Gilmour spend a lot of time outdoors with their family, as nature is a place that Smart says has provided her with a lot of healing. Riding horses has been particularly “therapeutic” for Smart and her children have been riding with her since they were toddlers.

“Riding has always been therapeutic for me, so naturally I’m thrilled that Chloé loves riding! It’s not that often these days that we get to go but what are the holidays for otherwise?!” Smart wrote on Instagram in 2017.

Smart considers her children her greatest blessing

Since welcoming her three children, Smart has considered them her greatest blessings. On social media, she has frequently gushed about her daughters and son, writing in March 2020 that she is always “grateful for the chance they gave me to be their mother.”

“I don’t remember who I heard say it or where I read it but it has stuck with me always. ‘There are 3 types of angels, those who came before, those who come after, and those who walk along side us,’ ” Smart wrote on Instagram on Mother’s Day in 2024.

She continued, “As each of my children have been born I have strongly felt that they were angels straight from heaven. I will never stop loving them with all my heart and being grateful to be their mother.”