Formerly Held Captive Michelle Knight Introduces Husband to the World on ‘Dr. Phil’

In an emotional interview on Dr. Phil, Michelle Knight introduced her husband to the world, sharing how he helped her find peace almost five years after escaping Ariel Castro’s Cleveland home, where she and two other women were held captive and abused for over a decade.

Knight was 21 when she was kidnapped by Castro in 2002. She and two other captives — Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus — were rescued in May 2013.

Nearly five years later, in an interview with Dr. Phil that aired Tuesday, Knight revealed she is happily married and loving her new life. She told Dr. Phil that she first met her husband, Miguel Rodriguez, through mutual Facebook friends.

They talked back and forth online before fortuitously bumping into each other in person by chance at a restaurant.

“I looked up and said, ‘I’m not catfished. You’re really, really real,’” Knight told PEOPLE while promoting her new book, Life After Darkness: Finding Healing and Happiness After the Cleveland Kidnappings.

Their love blossomed over time, and in May 2016, on the third anniversary of her rescue, they tied the knot and enjoyed a honeymoon in Hawaii.

“This is the biggest news I got for you, Dr. Phil. This is my sweetheart Miguel,” Knight announced on the show.

“I love him so much and he’s been a great support system for me. Now that I found love and I’m happy, I can do anything,” she said, describing her husband as her “safe teddy bear.”

The two enjoy watching movies together and share a love of animals, including their pitbull, Peanuts, who Knight rescued after he was thrown in her yard and abandoned.

“She’s a lot different than any person I’ve ever met,” Rodriguez told Dr. Phil. “She’s been through a lot of things and it still surprises me every day how strong she is.”

“He helps me through a lot of my struggles, but I don’t let those struggles affect how I live my life. I still move forward,” she said.

In her new book, Knight details the 11 years she was held captive with Berry and DeJesus, enduring unimaginable torture and sexual abuse. She had been on her way to a foster care appointment for her 2-year-old son, Joey, when she stopped to ask for directions at a store. She ran into Castro, who was one of her friends’ father.

He offered her a ride but said he needed to stop by his house. He asked if she wanted to stop inside to get a puppy he had been keeping for her son.

“We stepped into a bedroom and he said, ‘The puppies are underneath the dresser.’ I looked down to where he was pointing and then suddenly — Slam! — he closed the door,” she wrote in an excerpt from her book exclusive to PEOPLE.

“The gentle guy who’d seemed so nice to me had turned into a madman. He pushed me to the ground,” she wrote. “I closed my eyes and tried to prepare myself for what might happen next. To this day I still cannot believe what did.”

She recalled being strung from wire in a bedroom where he returned two days later to rape her before dragging her down two flights of stairs and into the basement.

She became pregnant five times during her years in captivity. She had been starved and beaten by Castro until she miscarried.

A few months later, in April 2003, Castro abducted Berry and brought her into the house. A year later, he had kidnapped DeJesus, who he allowed to be kept in the same room as Knight. They developed a bond and held hands while they were abused.

Berry became pregnant and Castro allowed her to keep the baby. Knight’s son was adopted while she was in captivity.

Eventually, the young women were allowed to go into the kitchen and living room for a few hours on the weekends.

On May 6, 2013, Berry took advantage of Castro leaving the inner front door unlocked and screamed through the storm door for help in May 2003. A neighbored heard her and called 911.

As police officers arrived on the scene and descended the basement stairs, Knight said she turned to DeJesus and said, “You won’t believe this. We’re free. We are going home.”

Castro was charged with 512 counts of kidnapping, 446 counts of rape and two counts of aggravated murder in the death of Knight’s unborn baby. He died by suicide a month into his prison sentence in September 2013.

Today, Knight works as a motivational speaker and travels the world to speak about human trafficking and missing and exploited children.

“I am really enthusiastic about how my life is going right now,” she told Dr. Phil.