AUSTRIA:FOR YEARS television was her main form of entertainment and her view of the world as she lived in an underground prison. Now, kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch is to become a TV talk show host herself - a career she dreamed about during her incarceration.
Less than two years after her release, the 20-year-old Austrian says she is now learning "the other side" of the media. On Sunday she will host the first in her chat show series, Natascha Kampusch Meets . . . on private television channel Puls 4.
In her own words, the 50-minute show is about finding out "how people get to where they are". She said: "I'm interested in people who deal with the everyday in a courageous and confident way, and in the process often manage to achieve extraordinary things." She said she would not shy from questioning her guests about personal issues, such as their parents, friends and relationships.
"I'll talk to my guests very openly in front of the camera, at the same time revealing a bit about myself as well." Her first interviewee is Niki Lauda, the former formula one racing driver who almost died following horrific injuries he sustained in a crash at the 1976 German Grand Prix. Lauda said he was initially sceptical about being interviewed by the former kidnap victim.
"I met up with her before agreeing to do the interview," he said. "I wanted to find out why she wanted to do it at all. She told me it was what she's interested in pursuing." He said the interview had been insightful. "She asked me questions that I have never been asked before . . . she got a lot out of me with her manner of talking."
The pre-recorded programme will air once a month, allowing Ms Kampusch time to continue studying for her school exams.
Ms Kampusch was kidnapped by Wolfgang Priklopil on her way to school at the age of 10. She was imprisoned in a cellar beneath his home and managed to free herself after 8½ years in August 2006. Priklopil killed himself by throwing himself in front of a train shortly after she was freed.
Ms Kampusch gave her first television interview two weeks after her release from the house, and impressed critics with her articulate and eloquent manner. She has since become a media personality who is followed closely by paparazzi. She has been photographed everywhere from shopping trips to the local nightclub.
She said turning into a media personality herself was her way of trying to turn the tables. "So much has been reported about me; now I have the chance to decide on the content," she said in a trailer to the programme that shows her typing on a laptop and laughing with make-up artists.
Ms Kampusch said she was prepared to face criticism for her decision to position herself in the public eye. - (Guardian service)