Michelle Knight: ‘I Don’t Want To Be A Celebrity, I Want To Be Me’

Michelle Knight, who was held captive for 11 years by the late Ariel Castro, has spoken out about what life is like when you’re famous.

Knight, who recently gave an interview to The Associated Press, said she wants to lead a normal life, along with a new identity and name. “I’m not a celebrity. I don’t want to be. I want to be me,” she said.

As well as the crowds of people that frequently surround her, Knight shared that she finds it annoying and invasive when random strangers snap pictures of her on their cellphone when she is out in public.

On top of that difficult challenge, especially considering the fact that Michelle Knight had no contact with people for over a decade of her life, old friends seem to have reappeared out of nowhere, usually seeking money.

“You have to be careful every day because of the book and the money and the ‘it’ factor of who you are. They’re not coming at me to be my friend. They want what I have,” she said.

On the bright side, Knight said that her nearly 4,000 days in captivity gave her a deep appreciation of life, a life she now wants to enjoy peacefully. “It’s just the little stupid things, like picking up a phone or writing in a book or looking out a window or just seeing a bird fly by,” she said.

And Michelle Knight is indeed enjoying life to the fullest as she concentrates on her singing career, which currently includes nights at her local karaoke bar. She also has some new tattoos; one is of a pretty young girl on her arm, which, she said, represents the babies Ariel Castro killed. “They are my little angels,” she said in the interview.

Life clearly isn’t easy for Knight, and it surely takes some adjusting for her to feel comfortable and get used to her new-found freedom. She has cut all contact with her family and forgone visitation rights with her son Joey who is 14 and lives with his adoptive parents.

After all she’s been through, Michelle Knights’ faith has remained strong throughout, and she said she believes that God has a plan for her. Many take her strength as an amazing example of human resilience in the face of evil.