Natasha Ryan, the girl in the cupboard, dies aged 40

Ryan and Black married in 2008 surrounded by their family and friends and had four children.

Soon after she was found in 2003, Ryan appeared on Nine’s 60 Minutes program. She insisted Black did not hold her against her will and said that he tried on several occasions to get her to call home.

“I remember exactly when I left home,” Ryan said.

“I was only 14, but Mum was always nagging about Scott and me. I felt I needed to get away for a little while.”

She left the house, which was five minutes from her mother’s home, only six times to go to the beach at night, and battled a bout of food poisoning when she was learning how to cook.

She later told the now-defunct British tabloid News of the World that she wore men’s clothes, watched the hunt for her body on TV and took out her frustrations on a punching bag during her time in hiding.

Ryan said she had also learnt yoga positions to hide comfortably in Black’s cupboard when he had visitors.

“Every time someone came around to Scott’s house, as they did a lot in the early days, I hid,” Ryan said.

“In the clothes cupboard there was room for me to stand up if I bent my head … but I sat in a yoga position because it was comfortable.”

She told police that one of the reasons she stayed in hiding was because the lie had become too big.

Ryan was found dead at Rockhampton Golf Club on Sunday morning by police who were responding to a call for a welfare check.

The 40-year-old’s death is not being treated as suspicious.

Asked about Ryan’s death at a press conference this morning, Queensland Premier Steven Miles said it was a tragic story.

“My sympathies go to her family and loved ones,” he said.

If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 131 114 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.

AAP with Marissa Calligeros