Michelle Knight, Missing Cleveland Woman Found Victim, Talks Ariel Castro Starving Her & Tying Her Up, on Dr. Phil [VIDEOS]
Michelle Knight is the first to speak out publicly about what happened during captivity in Ariel Castro's Cleveland home, relaying details to Dr. Phil in an interview airing as a two-part special Tuesday and Wednesday.
Knight -- who did not speak on behalf of the other two victims, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus -- was strung up with orange extension chords by her neck and feet "like a fish" for days without food or water during her time locked up in Castro's "House of Horrors," she admitted.
Speaking of the abuse she suffered, Knight described becoming Castro's prisoner.
"[He used] one of those orange extension cords. I was tied up like a fish, an ornament on the wall. That's the only way I can describe it," she said. "I was hanging like this by my feet and i was tied by my neck and my arms with the extension cord going like that."
Knight still has nerve damage on her hands and feet because of it. She told Dr. Phil that she would be left for days with no food, water, or a way to go to the toilet.
Knight said the only thing that kept her alive during her 11 years of captivity was thoughts of her 2-year-old son.
'I'm fighting to stay alive for him,' she said in the excerpt of her interview, aired on the Today Show Monday.
Berry and DeJesus are writing books about their experiences in Castro's home.
Dr. Phil said his interview with Knight was one of the most profound on-camera sitdowns he has had since launching his television program in 2002, according to Daily Mail. Speaking ahead of the broadcast, he said, "When you listen to her describe the horrible living conditions and how she was treated, you wonder how anyone lasted a day let alone more than a decade."
"Michelle Knight's story of horror and courageous survival almost defies description and has changed me like no other in 12 years of doing the show," Dr Phil said of the interview. "Her dark journey from victim to victor is beyond compelling.'
Dr Phil and Knight revisited the house in Cleveland where the horrors occurred during time together.
Michelle Knight's Testimony in Court: 'I Can Forgive But I Will Never Forget'
Castro abducted Knight on Aug. 23, 2002 when she was 21 years old, a year before Amanda Berry in April 2003. A year later, DeJesus was taken. Together they endured abuse from Castro for more than a decade in his Cleveland home before being rescued.
The women escaped on May 6 when Berry pushed out a door of Castro's home and yelled for help. The kidnapper pleaded guilty to 937 counts of kidnapping, rape, assault, and aggravated murder. He was sentenced to life in prison, plus 1,000 years, on Aug. 1. He hanged himself on Sept. 3.
Castro's home was demolished less than a week after his sentencing.
