Amanda Knox has defended her decision to release a new book saying she is looking forward to sharing her story and is absolutely not ‘capitalising on her own tragedy’.
In an interview with Good Morning Britain today, the 37-year-old was asked why she felt the need to go ahead with the publication amid the danger of ‘dragging it all up again’.
Ms Knox, a then-20-year-old American student, was arrested in 2007 in connection with the murder of Meredith Kercher, 21, who was found stabbed to death at the bedroom apartment they shared in Italy.
After four years imprisonment, Ms Knox’s conviction was overturned due to lack of evidence linking her to the crime and she was ultimately exonerated by Italy’s highest court in 2015.
Police also arrested Rudy Guede, who ran a local bar. His bloody fingerprints and DNA found at the crime scene ensured his conviction for murder, and he served 14 years of his 30-year prison sentence behind bars.
During this time, Ms Knox has released a bestselling memoir, Waiting to Be Heard, and in 2018, she began hosting a television series which examined the ‘gendered nature of public shaming’.
A Netflix series was also released in 2016 telling her story and she has been working on an upcoming show, Blue Moon, with Monica Lewinksy which will air on Hulu.
Speaking to Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid this morning, Ms Knox said: ‘I would say that my first book was a very different one to this book, I’m very proud of Waiting To Be Heard.
‘It was written at a time when I felt like so many people were authoring my experience and saying what it was and I felt like I needed to set the record straight.’
Richard Madeley asked the now-37-year-old about the impact of the release on Meredith Kercher’s family. He said: ‘The obvious danger is you drag it all up again which is bound to disturb Meredith’s family and you risk looking as if you’re capitalising on your own tragedy.’
Ms Knox – a married mother of two – said she hoped the family read her book, adding ‘honouring her past and memory does not mean I’m erasing my own’.
A statement read about by host Susanna Reid from Ms Kercher’s family lawyer, Francesco Maresca, said: ‘It seems the initiatives of Knox continue to be inappropriate and disrespectful towards the memory of Meredith.
‘It’s evident that for Knox the Purugia trial continues to be a source of income and a series of opportunities to maintain her name in the media. Ms Knox, after so many years, should respect the silence and memory.’
Ms Knox called Mr Maresca a ‘hypocrite’ as she accused him of publishing his own book.
She added: ‘The idea is that in a tragic event, there can only be one victim, and that is simply not true so I think, I don’t really care what Mr Maresca thinks, to be frank.’
The American activist went on to talk about her collaboration with Monica Lewinsky for a big-budget TV drama that will tell the real-life story of the murder of her roommate.
Ms Lewinsky famously had an affair with Bill Clinton from 1995 until 1997, and it eventually led to his impeachment.
On August 17, 1998, after multiple denials, the former President appeared on television and finally confessed, insisting he was ‘solely and completely responsible’ for the relationship.
Ms Knox told Susanna Reid: ‘Monica came into my life very much at a time when I was very, very lost and beaten down.’
The activist – previously dubbed ‘foxy knoxy’ – had been arrested in 2007 alongside her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito – though both were later exonerated.
It was Ms Knox that had discovered Kercher’s bedroom door locked and blood in their bathroom, but after cops in Italy noticed her acting odd she became a suspect.
At the time, Ms Knox put the blame on her boss at a local bar she worked at, Patrick Lumumba, who had a solid alibi, which only increased police suspicions.
After an immense investigation and trial, she was convicted for the crime in 2009.
Ms Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison for faking a break-in, defamation, sexual violence, and murder.
The defamation conviction was upheld by Italy’s highest court over her comments about Lumumba.
Ms Knox shared a video of herself weeping after the conviction was upheld, saying it was ‘disappointing’.
She also added on X: ‘I’ve just been found guilty yet again of a crime I didn’t commit’.
Her lawyers said she accused Lumumba during a long night of questioning and under pressure from police, who they said fed her false information.
The European Court of Human Rights found that the police deprived her of a lawyer and provided a translator who acted more as a mediator.
Rudy Hermann Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was eventually convicted of murder after his DNA was found at the crime scene.
Guede was freed in 2021, after serving most of his 16-year sentence.
Ms Knox returned to the US in 2011 after being freed and established herself as a global campaigner for the wrongly convicted.