Natascha Kampusch, known as 'The Girl in the Cellar', is reportedly living 'in a kind of prison again' two decades after escaping eight-and-a-half years of captivity as a child sex slave. Her sister, Claudia Nestelberger, shared a devastating update with Austrian broadcaster ORF, saying: 'Everyone knows how Natascha used to speak in front of the camera. That’s completely gone now. She’s mostly in her own world. She’s in a kind of prison again. It’s heartbreaking and we feel helpless.'
Kampusch, now 38, was abducted at age 10 in Vienna on March 2, 1998, by Wolfgang Priklopil. He held her in a five-square-metre basement in Strasshof, east of the city, where she was starved, abused, and subjected to Nazi-inspired humiliation. Priklopil, who admired Adolf Hitler, shaved her head and forced her to perform heavy labour. Kampusch escaped on August 23, 2006, after 3,096 days, when she slipped out while Priklopil was distracted by a phone call. He died by suicide that same day.
Following her escape, Kampusch wrote a book titled '3096 Days', later adapted into a film. In 2021, she revealed she had been granted ownership of the house where she was held as financial compensation, and had the cellar filled in to prevent it becoming a macabre museum. She said owning the property gave her 'control' and 'the satisfaction of surviving'. Three years ago, she expressed optimism about her future, designing jewellery and helping build a hospital in Sri Lanka, but her sister's recent comments suggest a significant decline in her wellbeing.
