Diane Sawyer’s exclusive interview with rescued kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard riveted America.
Sawyer’s two-hour “Primetime” sitdown with Dugard — kidnapped at age 11 and held hostage for 18 years in Northern California — snared nearly 15 million viewers from 9 to 11 p.m. Sunday night on ABC.
That represents the biggest audience for a summer newsmagazine in seven years, since Dan Rather’s “60 Minutes” interview with Bill Clinton about his just-released memoirs pulled in 15.8 million viewers on June 20, 2004.
It was also ABC’s biggest summer audience in that two-hour timeslot, with non-sports programming, in almost 11 years.
“Jaycee Dugard: In Her Own Words,” was Dugard’s first interview since being rescued in August 2009 in Antioch, Calif.
Dugard was 11, and on her way to school, when she was kidnapped in June 1991 near her home in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., by Phillip and Nancy Garrido.
Upon her rescue, it was discovered that Dugard had been repeatedly abused by her captors throughout her 18-year ordeal and had given birth to two daughters by Garrido.
Garrido was sentenced last month to 431 years in prison; his wife, Nancy, received 36 years to life.
ABC will repeat the Sawyer/Dugard interview this Saturday night (at 9).