An Austrian teen held captive for more than eight years "thought only of escape" throughout her ordeal, she said in the first interview to be made public since she made a dramatic escape in August.

Natascha Kampusch, 18, told the Austrian weekly magazine News in an interview published Wednesday that she repeatedly wondered why she was the child snatched by Wolfgang Priklopil in 1998.

The Austrian magazine News, in an issue that hit newsstands Wednesday, gave the public its first glimpse of Natascha Kampusch, 18, since she was abducted eight years earlier. Kampusch also gave interviews to other print and TV media, which were also releasing them on Wednesday.
(Ronald Zak/Associated Press)

"I thought only of escape," she said. "Why, of all the many millions of people, did this have to happen to me?"

For years, Priklopil largely confined Kampusch to a windowless room hidden under his garage. He rarely let her go outside.

'A place to despair'

The door to the bedroom of Natascha Kampusch was hidden in the house of her abductor in Strasshof, northeast of Vienna.
(Austrian Police/Associated Press)

"I always had the thought: Surely I didn't come into the world so I could be locked up and my life completely ruined," Kampusch was quoted as saying.

"I always felt like a poor chicken in a hen house. You saw on TV how small my cell was — it was a place to  despair."

The magazine, which hit the newsstands hours before a television interview with Kampusch, features a photo of her on its cover.

Shown gazing upwards, Kampusch is wearing a pink headscarf partially covering her dark blond hair. A spokesperson for the teen told Reuters that she wanted to cover her hair in case she later wished to change its colour or style.

It was the first time that the public has seen her since she ran away from her abductor as he took a phone call outside his home in the Vienna suburb of Strasshof on Aug. 23. Shortly after, he killed himself by jumping in front of a commuter train.

Kampusch was interviewed at Vienna's General Hospital, where she was undergoing tests for heart palpitations that made her dizzy.

She also said she often did not get enough to eat. An earlier magazine report said she weighed 92 pounds when she escaped.

The magazine article was one of two print interviews published on Wednesday. Kampusch also spoke with the Austrian daily Kronen Zeitung, which said it would publish the interview in instalments over the next few days.

Austria's public broadcaster, ORF, will air a pre-taped interview with Kampusch at 8 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET) on Wednesday.

Speaks 'from the gut' in TV interview

Christoph Feurstein, the ORF journalist who interviewed Kampusch on Tuesday, said she speaks "from the gut" during the interview. Its broadcast is expected to set record-high ratings in a country that has been gripped by the story.

During the interview, Kampusch tells of trying to catch people's attention during public outings with Priklopil.

In an earlier statement issued by Kampusch, she said she "mourned in a certain way" for Priklopil and asked for privacy from the media.

ORF said Kampusch submitted the questions that could be asked during the interview and refused to be asked anything intimate.

Police have said she may have had sexual contact with her captor, but have refused to elaborate.

The broadcaster said it didn't pay for the interview, but would donate any money from the sale of international media rights to a fund for Kampusch.

She said she wants to complete her high school education and is considering a range of possible careers, including journalism, psychology, acting and art.

With files from the Associated Press