Amanda Knox: I Want To Reconcile With Murdered Meredith Kercher's Family

Newsweek

9 hours ago

Amanda Knox has rarely been far from the public eye, or, as she puts it, "global vilification."
Convicted in 2007 of the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy, Knox became the subject of a global media frenzy. What followed was a yearslong tabloid obsession with her—her sexual history, her high school nickname "Foxy Knoxy," and lurid prosecution theory that Kercher was killed during a Satanic sexual orgy.
Knox, now 38, is reclaiming her narrative with a second autobiography released in May and a new eight-part Hulu drama series launching August 20. In a wide-ranging, no-holds-barred interview with Newsweek, Knox—who was twice convicted and twice acquitted of murder, and served nearly four years in prison—speaks candidly about her hope to reconcile with the Kercher family. She says she believes they could find her new book and TV series "healing."
"I hope that they will recognize the value in my attempt at revealing the truth of what happened to Meredith in my revealing of the truth of what happened to me," she says.
In this picture released on June 11, Amanda Knox is seen on the set of the television show "Cinque Minuti" at Rai Studios, on June 10, 2024 in Rome, Italy.
In this picture released on June 11, Amanda Knox is seen on the set of the television show "Cinque Minuti" at Rai Studios, on June 10, 2024 in Rome, Italy.
Antonio Masiello/Getty
Adversary or Ally? Knox's Complicated Bond With Her Prosecutor
Knox has struck up a complex friendship with Giuliano Mignini, the prosecutor in her case. He developed the unfounded theory that Kercher was killed by Knox, her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and Rudy Guede, from the Ivory Coast, in a drug-fueled sex orgy gone wrong.
Knox and Mignini began regular correspondence in 2019 and met up in 2022. "Some people say to me, 'Is he your friend?' And I don't really know how to answer that question.... He's my perpetrator and he is someone who cares about me," she explains.
Despite struggling with a lot of anger at the narrative Mignini concocted to try and secure her conviction, she says she wanted to understand why he hurt her. "An unexpected consequence of putting myself in that position is that the term adversary became complicated by other feelings and interactions with this fully fleshed-out human being," she says.
Knox's mother, Edda Mellas, was not supportive of the meeting. But Knox said: "I very much have a relationship with my prosecutor where I do not let him off the hook. But I also... embrace his humanity and I am able to see him for whatever good intentions he might have had even in the midst of committing grievous harm."
Knox adds that she thought the relationship was more meaningful to him than her, and that he feels guilt for what he put her through. When asked if, deep down, she thinks he knows he was wrong, even though he doesn't admit it, Knox smiled and nodded. "He believes in himself, that he is a good person, that he is a logical person and that he conducted an investigation according to his instincts and intuitions and his logical reasoning," Knox says. "Those things can all be true and at the same time he can be wrong. And he's admitted that much to me. He said, 'I did what I thought was right and I could have been wrong.'"
Newsweek attempted to contact Mignini for comment. In an interview with British tabloid The Sun last year, Mignini maintained that his position had not changed. "Amanda is not telling the truth," he said. "Not because she is a liar, but she does not remember."
Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty
Reaching out to the Kerchers
Kercher, from the U.K., and Knox, from the U.S., were fellow exchange students and had lived together in Perugia for just over a month before the murder.
Knox is now married to author and poet Christopher Robinson, with whom she has two children. They live in her hometown of Seattle, Washington, where she works as a writer, podcast host and criminal justice activist. She says she has reached out to the Kercher family several times over the years—but has never heard back.
"That's been a really difficult part of this—I've never had any direct contact with them," she says. "I've always attempted to communicate with them....I have no confirmation that they even know that I've ever attempted to contact them."
Kercher's parents, John and Arline, both died in 2020. Knox says she would love the opportunity to reconcile with Kercher's siblings. "We experienced something very traumatic together, it would be very nice and I think very healing for us to communicate about that. But when it all comes down to it, their grief is real and all-encompassing and my feelings about my own grief don't demand anything of them. I just want them to know that...I do want to reconcile with them."
Knox thinks the Kercher family still believes she is withholding something about the murder. "I feel like nothing I could ever say could satisfy them as long as they think that I had something to do with Meredith's death or know something about it that I'm not telling," she says. "And like I don't know what to do or what to say other than I've already said everything that I know."
Relatives of murdered British exchange student Meredith Kercher, Stephanie Kercher (R), Arline Kercher (L) and father John Kercher (C) arrive for a press conference in Perugia November 6, 2007. 21-year-old Kercher, who was found dead...
Relatives of murdered British exchange student Meredith Kercher, Stephanie Kercher (R), Arline Kercher (L) and father John Kercher (C) arrive for a press conference in Perugia November 6, 2007. 21-year-old Kercher, who was found dead with her throat slit in her room in an apartment she shared with other exchange students in Perugia. More
STR/AFP/Getty
Knox said she had recently found the first letter she drafted to the Kercher family from jail. In the letter, she says she writes: "How I'm so sorry about everything that they have gone through and that I recognize their pain. And that that pain is never going to go away and that I want to share with you everything that I know because you deserve that from me, including all these amazing, beautiful memories that I have of your sister. And I would love to have the opportunity to grieve with you, so I'm here, waiting if you want that."
'It's Not Just True Crime Horror Porn'
Knox describes the upcoming TV drama series as very intense and also something she can be proud of. "It's very, very complicated, it's very human, it's very compassionate, and at the same time it is the worst experience of my life through my eyes and through the eyes of the people who experienced their own worst experiences of their lives all at the same time," she explains. "We're trying to shed light on some issues that you don't normally see in true crime. It's not just true crime horror porn, it's a very thoughtful and intentional piece that is doing service, and I feel very proud of it."
In November last year, Kercher's sister, Stephanie, questioned why the drama about Meredith's murder was being made. "Our family has been through so much and it is difficult to understand how this serves any purpose," she said in a statement.
Francesco Maresca, the family's lawyer, accused Knox of attempting to profit from Kercher's murder. In a statement to Newsweek, Maresca said: "In general, neither I nor the Kercher family have been pleased with the initiatives Amanda Knox has undertaken over the years, as they are unjustified and disrespectful of poor Meredith's memory.
"Her behavior has always prevented any rapprochement between Meredith's family and Knox herself as it was always over the top and extremely excessive. I'm sure they won't watch the TV drama because once again it is violating the memory of the beautiful girl that Meredith was."
He pointed to the fact that Knox was convicted of slandering Patrick Lumumba, a Congolese man who owned a bar in Perugia where she worked. Knox falsely accused Lumumba of murdering Kercher during her police interrogation—which she says was forced by intimidation and coercion. The conviction was upheld by Italy's highest court in January this year.
"The autobiography does not correspond to the reality of the facts because Amanda Knox forgets that she was convicted of the crime of slander against Lumumba and obviously the slander was committed with the aim of helping someone [or] leading the investigation down a different path," Maresca told Newsweek.
Knox contests Maresca's claim that she is exploiting the tragedy. "He talks about how me talking about the case brings up, dredges up, things for the Kercher family, but he doesn't at all think that that applies to himself when he talks about the case or when he writes a book about the case," she says. "So I think he's simply being a short-sighted, adversarial, small-minded human being and I'm not really bothered by him because I don't think that he has ever been fair towards me."
Choosing To Live
Knox says the question of being free has "haunted" her entire adult life, having "stared into the abyss" during her interrogation and imprisonment. While she does now feel free in herself, it is not without conditions.
"The feeling of freedom does not come with this state of weightlessness, it's not a lightness of being that I carry. I carry an incredible heaviness of being. Part of that is that in my most desperate moments I have stared into the deepest of darknesses, including the idea of my own death and the idea of taking my own life," she says.
"Having gone through the motions of suicidal ideation, and, sorry trigger warning, I have become more intentional in the fact of life and the fact of choosing to live—and as a result of that I can carry with me so much of the heaviness that comes with being me."
She explains she can now appreciate the burdens of her life with a sense of gratitude, because it "puts into perspective the grand scheme of life, which is a blessing and a privilege."
Author and activist Amanda Knox attends the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at the University of Southern California on April 26, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Author and activist Amanda Knox attends the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at the University of Southern California on April 26, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Amanda Edwards/Getty
Now a mother-of-two herself, Knox says her mother was one of the main reasons she survived the ordeal. They would constantly exchange letters, and Knox said her mother made her know that she mattered and was loved. Unfortunately, in the years after her release from jail, Knox's mum and stepfather, who had spent long periods of time in Italy so he could visit her for one hour a week, separated.
What happened to Knox "was a huge factor" in the end of that relationship, she said. "This doesn't just impact the one person who goes to prison, it impacts everyone around them," she added.
Kercher's Murderer
Guede, the person convicted of murdering Kercher, was released from prison in 2021 having served 13 years of a 16-year sentence. The 38-year-old was charged last month with sexual assault against an ex-girlfriend. Knox says media coverage of Guede over the years has been a drop in the ocean compared to the constant focus on her. "No one cares," she says. "I think that is so indicative of what was going on at the time and has always been going on with this case."
Knox continues: "It was about the idea that she was murdered in an orgy orchestrated by her roommate. That was what people were interested in. The truth of what happened to her and the truth of the person who actually did it got completely lost for the sake of that scandalous story that sold millions of newspapers."
Knox says it was pure luck that she did not return home on November 1, 2007, choosing to spend the night with Sollecito instead. She describes it as like the flipping of a coin. "I live with the legacy of this case on my shoulders, I think much more so than anyone else in the case," she says. "Much more so than the actual murderer, that's for sure. And so I recognize that I'm carrying that legacy of her as well."
She adds: "I'm very aware of the fact that I get to go on with my life and have a family and have children—it's this privilege to live that was almost stolen from me and was certainly stolen from her."
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text "988" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.
Amanda Knox's book, Free, is out now. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox is on Hulu from August 20.