An ABC Diane Sawyer Exclusive: The Jaycee Dugard Interview

ByABC News
June 8, 2011, 1:02 PM

June 8, 2011 -- In a landmark television event, Diane Sawyer will conduct the first interview with Jaycee Dugard. Dugard was kidnapped at age 11 on her way to school by Phillip and Nancy Garrido, and held captive for the next 18 years during which time she was repeatedly abused and gave birth to two daughters. Phillip and Nancy Garrido have both recently been sentenced to life in prison.

Jaycee first captivated the world's attention twenty years ago when she disappeared as a child, and then again as a 29-year-old woman with two daughters when they were remarkably discovered and freed. Her story resonated with families around the world who could not imagine the horrors that she faced and the life lost over those years.

Dugard will be asked about the extraordinary and heartbreaking story of her captivity, her reunion with her family, and her soon to be released memoir, A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard (Simon & Schuster). Sawyer's interview will air in July, shortly before the publication of Dugard's much anticipated book.

Newsmakers continue to turn first to "ABC World News" anchor Diane Sawyer to share their stories – from the first interview with NASA astronaut Mark Kelly in the wake of the tragic shooting of his wife Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson to the combative and controversial Donald Rumsfeld speaking exclusively to Sawyer in his first interview since leaving the Bush Administration to an rare one-on-one with Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg. In addition, Sawyer just conducted the first joint interview with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and General David Petraeus in Afghanistan, the first interviews with incoming Speaker of the House John Boehner and outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi after the 2010 midterm elections, the first interview with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the U.S. took military action in Libya, and Prime Minister David Cameron's first U.S. television interview following his election.