The Children of Elizabeth Smart's Kidnapper Speak Out - Show Recap

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Oprah spoke with four of Wanda Barzee's six children - Andrea, Louree, Rhonda, and Derrick.

After Elizabeth Smart's kidnappers were caught and she was returned home, a critical eye was turned to the husband and wife who snatched the innocent child from her sleep. Who were these people, and how were they capable of such a crime? The media put more responsibility on Brian David Mitchell than his wife of 17 years, Wanda Barzee, but after nearly 8 years, four of Wanda's six children chose to shed light on the truth about their mother. Oprah sat down with Andrea, Louree, Rhonda, and Derrick to let them share about their childhood and what, if any, relationship they expect to have with their mother in the future.

This episode featured the following highlights:

• After being married for 21 years and having six children, Wanda Barzee and her husband divorced, and just one year later she married Brian David Mitchell.
  
  
• While the media portrayed Wanda as a victim, her children wanted to reveal the monstrous side of her that included a history of untreated mental illness paired with emotional abuse, neglect, and abandoning her children.
  
  
• The adult children spoke of being denied love, but also proper food and care by their parents.
  
  
• Wanda's children gave authorities tips to help them locate her and her husband.

• While their mother disowned them nearly 20 years before, she has written her children letters while she has been held in custody in Utah. Her eldest daughter Rhonda has received her letter and forgiven her mother, but the other children do not want to resume contact.
  
  
• The pain of the past and terrors from their childhood has caused Wanda's children to fall out of contact for a number of years while each works to forge a future for themselves.

It was very sad to watch Wanda Barzee's children describe their piece of such a long history of pain - their mother's mental illness, their continuous abuse and neglect from both parents, and Elizabeth Smart's experience at the hand of Wanda and her husband Brian David Mitchell. Now that Elizabeth Smart has long been reunited with her family and is on path of success and healing, and Wanda is receiving treatment at a Utah state hospital, what was very sad about the story was that Andrea, Louree, Rhonda, Derrick, and their other two siblings, experienced so much together, but lost even their connection with each other.