Kidnapping Survivor Jaycee Dugard Tells All About Drunken Adventure In New York

"My nerves shot through the roof," she recalls. Soon after accepting an award from Winfrey, Dugard "downed" a glass of champagne "within seconds." "I took it with gusto," she says, adding that she hadn't eaten any dinner. "The bubbles tickled my nose and throat as I swallowed, but it was so good."

She continued to swig cocktails. "I also had another glass of white wine. I'm pretty sure I had another glass of champagne, too, as the night wore on," she says.

After finishing at least three drinks. "I was very relaxed…and feeling pretty good," she admits. Dugard and her sister left the party in search of pizza.

Following the midnight snack run, "we got a bottle of wine to take back to the hotel room," she continues. "Everyone went to bed except for my sister and me, and we ended up sharing the entire bottle of wine, plus we ordered a chocolate sundae from room service."

The two were up past midnight, but "we were celebrating," she justifies.

The next morning, Dugard woke up with a "splitting headache." "I could barely move. The pounding in my head was so intense, I thought somebody had taken a hammer to it," she recalls. "My eyes felt gritty and hard to open."

As she walked to a nearby Starbucks for coffee, Dugard was terrified someone would scream, "Hey, is that Jaycee Lee Dugard with a massive hangover?" she remembers.

She learned her lesson, and now only drinks alcohol "in moderation." "Someone can tell you not to do something all day long, but some lessons you have to learn for yourself," she sums up. "Drinking too much alcohol was one of those lessons for me, and the resulting hangover was punishment that I won't soon forget."

Now, four years after the drunken disaster, Dugard is focusing on raising her daughters, hanging out with friends, and doting on her many animals, including horses, cats and dogs.