Jaycee Dugard Explains Horrors of Kidnap Ordeal to ABC News

Jaycee Dugard, who was infamously kidnapped and held in captivity for 18 years, gave an insightful and emotional interview with ABC News on Sunday night.

During the interview, Dugard spoke in detail about her experiences during her kidnapping and testified she did what she had to do to survive the ordeal.

Dugard was 11 years old when she was kidnapped in 1991 from in front of her house in California by Phillip and Nancy Garrido. She was held for 18 years, over which time she gave birth to two children. She wasn’t found until 2009.

Now 31, Dugard told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer, “There's a switch that I had to shut off. Just went someplace else.”

She added, “I can't imagine being beaten to death, you know? And you can't imagine being kidnapped and raped, you know? So, it's just, you just do what you have to do to survive."

Dugard spoke bravely about how she was abducted, describing how she was on her way to school when she suddenly felt “tingly” and “numb” – she had been hit by Phillip’s stun-gun. Her abductors grabbed her and threw her into a car.

She explained how Phillip laughed as they drove away with her, telling his wife: “I can't believe we got away with it.”

Jaycee Dugard: I Stayed with Captor to Keep my Kids Safe

Jaycee Dugard endured an abduction and 18 years of sexual slavery at the hands of Phillip and Nancy Garrido.



Now, the 31-year-old Californian has written a memoir, "A Stolen Life," detailing her ordeal.



In the book, set for release July 12, Dugard vividly describes the years of sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Garrido since being kidnapped at age 11 at a school bus stop on June 10, 1991 – and the moment, three years later, that she first realized he had impregnated her.



"Easter Sunday 1994," she writes. "Phillip says there is something he needs to talk to me about. He and Nancy have noticed that I'd been putting on weight and waddling instead of walking. I said I know.



"They said, 'We think you may be pregnant. I was stunned and scared...how can I possibly raise a baby in this place?"



That baby was the first of two children, now ages 16 and 13, she had by him.



While kept concealed behind the Garrido's home in Antioch, Cal., Dugard recalls first being physically restrained to keep her from running to freedom. The emotional restraints came next.



"Phillip gave me this image of the world as a scary place made up of pedophiles and rapists...one of the reasons I stayed was I wanted my kids to be safe," she writes.



The book, highlighted on TODAY Thursday and excerpted in next week's issue of People magazine, hits stores a month after Dugard's captors faced their crimes in court; Phillip Garrido was sentenced to 413 years in prison and his wife was sentenced to 35 years to life.



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