Earlier this year the nation shook its head in disbelief when it was revealed that three women in Cleveland, Ohio had been held captive in a house for a decade. Their eventual escape made headlines for weeks.

Now, those three women have come forward in a new video to show their thanks for the support they have received from the Cleveland area and the world at large. Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry, and Michelle Knight wanted the world to know that despite the unfortunate turn their lives all took, they stand stronger than ever.

"I may have been through hell and back but I am strong enough to walk through hell with a smile on my face and with my head held high and my feet firmly on the ground ... I will not let the situation define who I am. I will define the situation. I don't want to be consumed by hatred," said one of the victims, Michelle Knight.

The three women's plight was caused by the owner of the house and mastermind of their kidnappings, Ariel Castro. He and his brothers kept the women locked up in the basement for roughly a decade, subjecting them to both mental, physical, and sexual abuse. Castro has been charged with 329 counts of rape and kidnapping.

During that time, Berry gave birth to her now 6-year-old daughter, a daughter that DNA evidence has confirmed belongs to Ariel Castro. The women were only able to escape after a neighbor passing by happened to see one through a window and helped release them. From there, Castro's house of cards quickly tumbled down.

"People are recognizing them now as they go about in public, so they decided to put voices and faces to their heartfelt messages," Knight's attorney Kathy Joseph said. "It was their decision to relay their thanks in this way to all of the many people who have offered support to them, for which they are extremely grateful."

The three victims have all kept a low profile so far and have focused on simply getting reacquainted to life outside the small Cleveland house that was their jail cell for so many years. They have indicated that they have no plans to give any interviews or write any books about their story, though they have been constantly presented with such offers since the news story first broke.

"They wanted to say thank you and there were three options to do that," says Hennes Paynter managing partner Bruce Hennes, who represents the women. "One was to select a reporter and use that reporter as a megaphone to say thank you. They could have taken out an ad in the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, or we could have done a video for them."