From the moments after her kidnapping to the story of birthing her first child by herself in the backyard, Dugard's exclusive interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer revealed how she survived during her captivity.
Dugard was kidnapped by Phillip Garrido and his wife Nancy in June 1991 while she was walking to a school bus stop in South Lake Tahoe.
Just a fifth grader at the time, she walked the route to the bus, the way her mother taught her, looking out for traffic.
"Walked up the side of the hill, the safe way - half way up, my world changed," said Dugard.
Garrido pulled up alongside her, rolled down his window and used a stun gun to paralyze her. The next thing she remembers is coming to in the backseat of Garrido's car with his wife holding her to the floor.
Dugard said she heard Garrido laugh and say, "I can't believe we got away with it."
It was the beginning of an 18-year sentence for the little girl from South Lake Tahoe. As neighbors searched for her and police set up roadblocks, the Garridos had driven Dugard 120 miles away to their home in Antioch.
Without going into detail, Dugard talked about being raped repeatedly for years by Garrido. She also spoke about how, at the age of 14, she had to give birth to her first child all on her own while being confined to the backyard of Garrido's home.
Dugard admitted that when police finally rescued her and her two daughters, one of her first thoughts was, "Will my family accept these two children?"
Dugard's family has embraced them.
"They are who they are and they are so beautiful, and I am very proud to be a grandma," said Dugard's mother, Terry Probyn. "I love those girls with all my heart."
Dugard says she doesn't see a trace of Garrido in her children at all.
"Surprisingly I don't see it in them. I see my mom. I see me. I don't see him," she said.
Dugard recalled the day of her kidnapping, what she remembers about the soundproof room Garrido put her in and the kind of handcuffs he used to restrain her.
"They were the fuzzy kind so they wouldn't hurt as bad," said Dugard. "There was a pallet on the floor, and then he said he'd be back later. He shut the soundproof door and then the other door with the lock. I can still hear it consciously, when I am awake. There are some sounds and smells that just don't leave you."
Dugard said she didn't try to leave during her 18 years with the Garridos because she was too scared, partly due to what they told her about the world. She said the unknown was terrifying to her.
As she moves forward at the age of 31, she recalls the moment she felt the stun gun on her as an 11-year-old. She remembers feeling a pine cone after falling to the ground - a piece of nature that now symbolizes reclaiming the life she was forced to leave behind.
"Back then, it was the last thing I touched. You know, the last grip on me. Now it's a symbol of hope and new beginnings, and that there is life after something tragic," said Dugard.
Dugard said she feels no hatred towards the Garridos, because that would be "letting them win." Her mother, however, is having a harder time forgiving the captors, saying the Garridos stole so much from their family.
Dugard's memoir, "A Stolen Life," is set to be released Tuesday.
Dugard said the point in writing the book and giving her exclusive interview is to remove the stigma that sex abuse victims may try to avoid. She said what happened to her is Garrido's shame, not her own.
