( CNN ) -- U.S. kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard , who gave birth to two children during her 18 years in captivity , said she did what she had to do to survive . During a wide-ranging interview with ABC News ' Diane Sawyer that aired Sunday night , Dugard opened up about her experiences at the hands of her captors , Nancy and Philip Garrido . Dugard was just 11 years old when she was abducted in 1991 from the street in front of her South Lake Tahoe , California , home . The Garridos held her and her daughters in a hidden compound of sheds and tarpaulins until she was found in 2009 . Dugard is now 31 and working to build a new life , one in which she and her children are finally free . `` There 's a switch that I had to shut off , '' she told Sawyer . `` Just went someplace else . '' `` I ca n't imagine being beaten to death , you know ? And you ca n't imagine being kidnapped and raped , you know ? So , it 's just , you just do what you have to do to survive . '' Dugard recounted the first moment Phillip Garrido entered her life . She was on her way to school , wearing her favorite shirt and a ring in the shape of a butterfly her mother had given her , ABC reported , when all of a sudden Dugard felt `` tingly '' and `` numb . '' Phillip Garrido had shocked her with a stun gun , the network said . The Garridos then put her in their car . She recalled Phillip Garrido laughing at one point , and telling his wife : `` I ca n't believe we got away with it . '' `` It was like the most horrible moment of your life times 10 , '' Dugard told ABC . At first , she was handcuffed . Dugard said she tried not to cry because , with her hands behind her back , she could n't wipe away her tears . Left on her face , they would itch , she said . Dugard also recalled the first time she gave birth , in the backyard , at just 14 years old . `` I did n't know I was in labor , '' she said . `` Then I saw her . She was beautiful . I felt like I was n't alone anymore . ( I ) had somebody that was mine ... And I knew I could never let anything happen to her , '' she said . Throughout her 18-year ordeal , Dugard managed to hold onto the ring her mother had given her and the hope that she would one day be reunited with her family , ABC reported . `` I wanted to see her more than anything , '' she said about her mother . `` I would cry every day . ( It was ) hardest when I would think about her and what she was doing and then -- trying to convince myself she was better without me . `` Worried I 'd forget what she looked like , or what she sounded like . Would she forget me ? '' Her mother , Terry Probyn , also appeared in the ABC interview . Last month , a judge sentenced Phillip Garrido to 431 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping and 12 counts of sexual assault . Nancy Garrido got 36 years to life in prison for her role in the crimes , including kidnapping and one count of rape by force . The couple pleaded guilty in late April in El Dorado Superior Court . A statement from Dugard , read by her mother at the sentencing hearing , called the Garridos `` evil '' and described her kidnapping by them as a `` sexual perversion . '' During the ABC interview , she stressed she is moving on with her life . Dugard said she wants to study writing , the network reported . She spoke out just days before her memoir , `` A Stolen Life , '' is scheduled to be released . The book is due in stores Tuesday . `` Why not look at it ? Stare it down until it ca n't scare you anymore , '' Dugard said about her nearly two decades in captivity . `` I did n't want there to be any more secrets . ''
Jaycee Dugard was just 11 when she was abducted . She gave birth to two children during her 18 years in captivity . Her memoir , `` A Stolen Life , '' is due in stores on Tuesday . Dugard speaks exclusively to ABC News ' Diane Sawyer .