Hey, I'm Steph, and this is not today.

Hello and welcome. Before we jump in, I wanted to let you know that bonus episode number 38 is now out over on our Patreon. We'll be talking about six men who competed in a yacht race from Texas to Mexico when their yachts suddenly capsized and sunk, leaving them stranded in the water.

You can get access to that episode and so many others at patreon.com slash not today podcast.

Go over there, check it out. It's a good time.

But today, I'm going to be telling you about the case of Natasha Campush.

She was only 10 years old when a deranged man abducted her off of the street

and held her captive in the cellar of his house, only 20 kilometers from her home for eight

and a half years. Natasha is incredible. Her strength and bravery through this story is unbelievable,

and she was so young and it went on for such a long time.

She dealt with so much abuse and yet managed to hold on to hope and make her escape at the age of 18.

This story is crazy, and we have a lot to talk about, so with nothing else to say at the top, why don't we jump right in?

Natasha Campush was born on February 17th in 1988 in Vienna, Austria, to her parents, Brigitte and Ludwig.

Her father worked as a baker and her mother was a seamstress.

Natasha was the youngest of three daughters.

Her sisters were much older than her, and were half-sisters from her

mother's previous marriage. And because her sisters were much older than her, she said she grew up

feeling like the third wheel a lot of the time. She almost had to fight to be seen within her family.

She also said she was doted on and loved, but she did feel the weight of those insecurities as well.

Natasha's relationship with her mother was a bit difficult. Her mother ran a really tight ship.

She was hard on Natasha and had very high expectations of her, even from a very young age.

So Natasha spent a lot of her time feeling like she was disappointing the people in her life.

Natasha claimed her mother was very image-driven and always wanted her to look her best and dress

...