VIENNA (Reuters) - Natascha Kampusch, the Austrian who spent eight years locked in a windowless cell after being abducted in Vienna, turns TV chat show host on Sunday when her debut program airs on national television.
In "Natascha Kampusch meets..." Kampusch, whose case returned to the spotlight after revelations that another Austrian woman spent 24 years locked in a cellar, interviews former Austrian motor racing star Niki Lauda, who comments they have both had extreme lives.
"Of course I have realized I will always be different, but what I have experienced hasn't affected me in the way people think," Kampusch tells Lauda in the pre-recorded show which was screened to journalists on Friday.
The first of six episodes of the monthly chat show is to be broadcast at prime time on the private PULS 4 channel.
Snatched on her way to school aged 10, Kampusch was held in a cell beneath a house garage from 1998 until her dash to freedom in 2006. Her captor committed suicide after her escape.
Interest in 20-year-old Kampusch's psychological well-being and adjustment to freedom has only intensified since the case of Elisabeth Fritzl came to light.
Fritzl was held by her own father for 24 years in a windowless prison and bore him seven children, three of whom shared her captivity.
The family are now under careful supervision in a hospital and have chosen so far to avoid the media despite massive public interest.
