Pictures of Jaycee Dugard, who suffered an 18-year kidnap ordeal in the US, as she is now have published for the first time.

People has a preview piece on its website promoting Friday’s magazine featuring a full interview with Ms Dugard, now 29.

The photo on the magazine’s cover shows Ms Dugard with brown wavy hair, a departure from the blonde schoolgirl that disappeared in 1991; but the smile is unmistakably hers.

She was 11 when she was abducted from outside her family home in Lake Tahoe, California. Two months ago she reappeared, along with two daughters Angel, 15, and Starlit, 11.

Phillip Garrido and his wife Nancy have pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and rape over Ms Dugard’s abduction.

People said Ms Dugard was “so happy” to be living at a secret location with her mother Terry Probyn, 50, and her two daughters.

She apparently spends her time riding horses, cooking and working on a book.

“They live a surprisingly normal life, considering the circumstances,” Mrs Probyn’s stepmother Joan Curry told People.