People Magazine Features Very First Current Photo of Jaycee Dugard

For the first time since the Jaycee Dugard story hit, we get to see Dugard thanks to People magazine. They revealed their new cover featuring a current photograph of the kidnap victim.

Dugard, now age 29, allowed the magazine to display her photo along with a quote: "I'm so happy to be back with my family," said Dugard.

Visit People magazine for the photo and story here




Friends and family members close to Dugard, who was not directly interviewed for the 10-page article in the issue hitting newsstands nationwide Friday, spoke to People magazine about her abduction, the years she spent imprisoned inside of a hidden encampment of tents and sheds, and the struggles she and her children, Angel, 15, and Starlet, 11, are having as they adjust to a normal life.
Erika Shulte, a Dugard family spokesperson, told Ann Curry of the "Today Show" that despite all they've been through, the Dugards are "very close and comfortable and happy." She added, "If you didn't know the circumstances, it would just seem like any other family."
Shulte said that a therapist is using horseback riding as a way of helping Dugard and her daughters (both of whom were fathered by Dugard's captor, Phillip Garrido), assimilate into modern society.
Whether or not People paid for the cover photo, which was taken by a private photographer, is unknown. In an interview with the "Today Show"'s Matt Lauer, People's managing editor, Larry Hackett, would only say "We have bought photographs in the past ... I don't want to go into the details." Hackett added that Dugard and her mother, 50-year-old Terry Probyn, decided to grant the magazine permission to publish the photo as part of an effort to control the story of Dugard's abduction and release, a story that has garnered intense interest from the media and the general public.