Already have an account?
Get back to the

Cleveland Kidnapping Victim Michelle Knight Releases “Survivor” Music Video

https://youtube.com/watch?v=NkD1aBP5LrU

Taking inspiration from the darkest times. Cleveland kidnapping victim Michelle Knight, who escaped from kidnapper Ariel Castro after more than 10 years, released a new song “Survivor” about her time in captivity. 

Now 34, Knight was kidnapped in August 2002 when she was 21 years old. She was finally freed from Castro’s Cleveland home in May 2013, after her fellow captive Amanda Berry was able to get the attention of neighbors and tell them that she was being held with Knight and a third woman, Gina DeJesus

Related: PHOTOS: Best Celebrity Music Video Cameos

Knight wrote a memoir, Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed: A Memoir of the Cleveland Kidnappings, about her experience, which became a bestseller in 2014 and was used as reference for the 2015 Lifetime movie Cleveland Abduction. She is continuing to explore her artistic side with her new musical venture, debuting the music video to “Survivor” on Tuesday, May 19.

She explained in an interview with the local FOX affiliate that she started writing the lyrics to the song while trapped in Castro’s basement, where unspeakable horrors took place and Berry gave birth to a little girl, now 8 years old, fathered by Castro. 

Michelle Knight Survivor Song
Cleveland Kidnapping Victim Michelle Knight Releases “Survivor” Music Video

Related: PHOTOS: The Year in Us Weekly 2014

Knight has kept a stunningly positive attitude in the months since she was rescued, echoing the same tone in “Survivor.” Against visuals of a cityscape, a rainy night, and shots of herself, Knight sings, “What doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger / If I hold on, a little longer / And when my hope fades away, they keep the light on / My angels keep me awake, I’m a survivor.”

“We worked so hard on it and I think the outlook on the song is amazing,” Knight told FOX 8, joined by her producer Aaron “D-Boyy” Dissell. “Way before the house, music was always my thing. If I was being abused by somebody I loved and I didn’t understand it, I would sit down and write my feelings about what was going on, how I felt about it.”

Related: PHOTOS: Celebrity Mugshots

Watch Knight’s “Survivor” music video in the video above. 

Got a Tip form close button
Got a tip for US?
We're All Ears for Celebrity Buzz!