Cleo Smith’s parents break their silence in 60 Minutes interview

New footage of Cleo Smith taken just hours after her dramatic rescue has emerged, with her parents revealing fresh details of the 18-day nightmare.

Newly-released footage shows Cleo Smith playing calmly just hours after her miraculous rescue following her 18-day kidnapping nightmare.

The clip, shared on Sunday night during 60 Minutes’ exclusive $2 million interview with Cleo’s mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon, shows the four-year-old singing and dancing soon after she was rescued by police after vanishing during a family camping trip.

Cleo was abducted from her family’s tent in the early hours of October 16, 2021 at the Quobba Blowholes Campsite in Western Australia.

Her disappearance sparked a massive search and gained international attention.

She was eventually discovered by police on November 3 at a home in Carnarvon, just over 80km from where she was taken.

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Cleo Smith’s mum has given insight into what her daughter experienced in the 18 days she was missing.

Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, was arrested the same day Cleo was found.

The new footage shows the child cuddling her baby sister Isla, blowing bubbles and playing on a slide and painting her stepfather’s toenails the morning after she was reunited with her frantic family.

The news footage shows Cleo playing happily just hours after her rescue. Picture: Channel 9

But Cleo is still dealing with the trauma of her ordeal. Picture: Channel 9

But despite the happy scene, Ellie Smith also shared harrowing insights into what her daughter endured during the 18 days she was missing.

“That was such a beautiful moment just to see her as the old Cleo, but you could still see, for us … she’s still different and she always will be and that’s just our life now,” Ms Smith said.

“As a parent, you want to … make sure that they stay as a child for as long as they can because you don’t want them to be in this big, bad world, and she lost that, that was taken from her.

“We’ve got a long way to go and so does she, she’s probably going to have to be dealing with this for the rest of her life and we’re going to eventually have to find out everything that’s happened and we’re going to have to carry that as well.”

Ms Smith also told reporter Tara Brown Cleo was still impacted by her ordeal three months later, with the child needing the lights on in order to fall asleep at night and developing a fear of locked doors.

She also revealed new details of Cleo’s kidnapping.

“She told us that she was scared,” Ms Smith said.

“She was locked in a room and she was scared and she didn’t know where we were.”

Kelly has since plead guilty to forcibly taking a child aged under 16 and faced Carnarvon Magistrates Court in late January via video link from the maximum security Casuarina Prison in Perth.

The matter was committed to the WA District Court for a sentence mention in March.

Ms Smith revealed when police found Cleo it was about 1am and she was awake playing with cars.

“She told us that she could hear dogs barking and the police have confirmed that the house is basically how it has been posted on social media,” she said.

“So, there is the dolls and everything like that.”

Ellie Smith and Jake Gliddon have spoken to 60 Minutes in an exclusive interview. Picture: 60 Minutes/Channel 9

Despite Cleo now being safe at home, the four-year-old’s parents still don’t know the full details of what happened while they were separated.

“She’s blocked out a lot as to what’s happened. She kind of went into survivor mode and pushed it very far away,” Ms Smith said.

“She’s probably going be dealing with this for the rest of her life, and you know we’re going have to carry that as well,” she said.

Cleo Smith, pictured with mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon the day after her rescue. Picture: Colin Murty

Ms Smith told Brown about the horrifying moment she realised “someone had my baby”.

“I felt like my heart was … it told me, like, she’s not here, she’s not going to run into my arms today. She’s not going to run down a sand dune,” Ms Smith said.

“She was basically nowhere near me and that was the second I realised that someone had her and both my head and my heart connected to that. Someone has taken her and someone had my baby.”

When they were finally reunited Ms Smith said her daughter’s first words were, “hi mummy”.

“Cleo got onto the phone and she’s like ‘hi mummy’, and I was like ‘hi baby’,” Ms Smith said, adding: “It was such a beautiful moment.”

When police found the youngster, her first words were to them were, “My name is Cleo” – which caused a global sensation, with millions around the world following the story overwhelmed with relief she had been found safe and well.

Cleo Smith was missing for 18 days. Picture: Western Australian Police Force/AFP

Cleo Smith became a household name after her case gained both national and international attention, with her mum revealing she has been coping well with the attention.

“She loves it,” she told Brown.

“We were in Perth and someone went up to her and they’re like: ‘Hi Cleo’, and she was like: ‘Hi! Hello!’

But the youngster also doesn’t quite understand the situation.

“We walked away, and she was like, ‘Mum, how does she know my name?’” Ms Smith continued.

The 60 Minutes interview with Tara Brown was conducted via video call as a result of WA’s strict Covid lockdowns.

It reportedly netted the family $2 million, setting a new Australian TV record.

The deal is also understood to include miniseries or documentary as well as stories across Channel 9’s website and papers.

Cleo’s parents will also appear on Nine’s Today show and speak with 2GB’s Ben Fordham on Monday.