First Hannah Anderson interview to air on 'Today' show Thursday

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Phillip Garrido enters a courtroom in Placerville, Calif. Phillip Garrido was sentenced to 431 years in prison for Jaycee Dugard’s abduction. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

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A tent in the backyard of a home in Antioch, Calif., where authorities say kidnap victim Jaycee Lee Dugard lived. (Paul Sakuma / Associated Press)

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Elizabeth Smart addresses the media outside a federal courthouse following the guilty verdict in the Brian David Mitchell trail in Salt Lake City. Mitchell was found guilty in the June 5, 2002, kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart. (Colin E. Braley / Associated Press)

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Elizabeth Smart poses with her parents, Lois and Ed, outside their home in 2003. Smart was abducted from her Salt Lake City bedroom in 2002 (Tom Smart / Associated Press)

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Brian David Mitchell, Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapper, is escorted into the Frank E. Moss Federal Courthouse in Salt Lake City in 2010. (Jim Urquhart / Associated Press)

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Katie Beers, whose kidnapping attracted nationwide headlines in 1992, poses for a photo in Old Westbury, N.Y. The 30-year-old mother of two co-wrote a new book about her ordeal. (Frank Eltman / Associated Press)

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John Esposito sits handcuffed in a van in Hauppauge, N.Y., as he is about to be taken to court for arraignment on charges of kidnapping Katie Beers. (Michael Albans / Associated Press)

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Shawn Hornbeck, 15, watches as his parents Craig and Pam Akers talk to the media in Richwoods, Mo. Shawn, who was missing since Oct. 2002, was recovered in 2007 with another missing boy. (Tom Gannam / Associated Press)

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Michael Devlin is escorted out of the Franklin County Courthouse in Union, Mo. Devlin pleaded guilty in Franklin County to one charge of child kidnapping and one count of armed criminal action in the 2007 abduction of 13-year-old William “Ben” Ownby. (Tom Gannam / Associated Press)

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Steven Stayner, right, and and his brother Delbert Stayner walk toward their Merced County home as Steven was reunited with his family following a 7-year kidnap ordeal. (Ted Benson / Associated Press)

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Convicted kidnapper Kenneth Eugene Parnell during a court appearance in Oakland in 2003. Parnell was convicted in the kidnappings of Steven Stayner in 1972 and Timothy White in 1980. (Nick Lammers / Associated Press)

By Kate Mather

Aug. 21, 2013 4:40 PM PT

In her first interview since she was rescued from a 6-day kidnapping ordeal, San Diego County 16-year-old Hannah Anderson told NBC News that she is a survivor.

The full interview is scheduled to air Thursday morning on the “Today” show.

“In the beginning I was a victim, but now knowing everyone out there is helping me I consider myself a survivor instead,” she told NBC News. “My mom raised me to be strong.”

The Lakeside teen also thanked people for their support and credited Amber Alert with her rescue.

It was unclear whether Hannah planned to address any of the other questions that have circled since her rescue.

Her family tried to quash at least one rumor on Wednesday, responding to suggestions that kidnapper James DiMaggio may have been her biological father.

“Brett and Tina Anderson met Mr. DiMaggio when Tina was in her sixth month of pregnancy with Hannah,” according to a family statement emailed to The Times. “Brett Anderson’s DNA was used to identify the body of his dead son Ethan Anderson.”

The comments came after reports surfaced that DiMaggio’s sister was seeking a paternity test to determine if her brother was the biological father of 16-year-old Hannah or 8-year-old Ethan, whose body -- along with his mother’s -- was found in DiMaggio’s charred home earlier this month.

Andrew Spanswick, a spokesman for the DiMaggio family, said Lora Robinson had asked the coroner for DNA samples as part of her effort to “get to the bottom of what’s going on.”

“There were rumors that were circulating and she got wrapped up in the rumors,” Spanswick said. “She doesn’t know one way or the other. It’s a question that’s out there.”

Spanswick said Robinson was “not trying to cause any more pain for the Anderson family” but that she’s trying to determine what the motive behind her brother’s actions might have been. She has also asked authorities to examine some of the evidence, he said, including DiMaggio’s gun, a photo of DiMaggio and Hannah taken at a Border Patrol checkpoint, and letters from the teenager found at his home.

“We’d just like some more information,” Spanswick said. “It just doesn’t add up.”

The development was the latest in a series of new details trickling out of the case, which began Aug. 4 when the bodies of Hannah’s mother and brother were found at DiMaggio’s burning property in eastern San Diego County. The search -- which triggered Amber Alerts across much of the West -- ended six days later, when FBI agents found Hannah and DiMaggio at a campsite in a stretch of rural Idaho backcountry.

Hannah was rescued safely. DiMaggio, who authorities said fired at least once at the agents before he was killed, was shot at least five times in the head and body, an Idaho coroner said.

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Twitter: @katemather | Google+

kate.mather@latimes.com