Amanda Knox has revealed how Monica Lewinsky became her mentor as she tried to rebuild her life after being exonerated in the death of of her roommate Meredith Kercher.
The two women met at a speaking engagement in 2017, just two years after Italy‘s highest court exonerated Knox and her one-time boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito in Kercher’s murder.
Knox told The Hollywood Reporter how she was nervous and had begged the event organizers to let her speak with Lewinsky in private.
The former White House intern obliged, and even made Knox a pot of tea as she shared some guidance from her years trying to move past her sex scandal with then-President Bill Clinton.
‘She had a lot of advice about reclaiming your voice and your narrative,’ Knox said. ‘That ended up being a turning point for me.’
Years later, Knox shared her desire to tell her story on screen in an interview with The New York Times – and upon seeing it, Lewinsky jumped on board.
Together, Lewinsky and Knox wound up assembling a creative team, including This Is Us executive producer K.J. Steinberg and famed producer Warren Littlefield, to create ‘The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox,’ a limited series for Hulu.
After years of planning, Knox and Lewinsky celebrated the premiere of the show on the red carpet Tuesday.
Monica Lewinsky, 52, and Amanda Knox, 38, stunned on the red carpet as they celebrated the premiere of their show The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox
Knox and Lewinsky also spoke about the importance of telling the stories of those who survived scandal on Knox’s podcast, Hard Knox
The two women served as executive producers on the Hulu miniseries. Lewinsky is pictured here (left) with with co-executive producers K.J. Steinberg, center, and Lisa Harrison
The 38-year-old exoneree stunned in a lacy white and orange gown, while Lewinsky, 52, opted for a stunning gold number with dangling earrings and her hair pulled back.
Just hours earlier, Knox released the latest episode of her podcast, Hard Knox, in which she and Lewinsky spoke of the importance of telling the stories of those who survived scandal.
Speaking of the decision, Lewinsky noted that she does not often pay attention to a story after it fades from headlines.
‘I don’t think about “How is this person rebuilding their life?”‘ she said, her voice cracking as she apparently started to tear up.
But, she said, she thinks it is important to ‘understand, as my therapist calls it, the long tale of trauma – and that it’s not even just the person, but the collateral damage for people’s families.’
‘It’s not the story of like, being a person and being gutted and then building your life back.
Knox served four years in an Italian prison before being cleared of murdering her former student flatmate Meredith Kercher (pictured) in 2007
Former partners Knox and Raffaele Sollecito are pictured here meeting again in the Italian town of Gubbio in October 2022, having both been cleared of Meredith Kercher’s murder
‘And having to find yourself again,’ Lewinsky said, noting that both of their scandals arose when they were in their 20s.
‘You think you know everything, you think you know who you are and it’s then ripped away from you,’ she reflected.
‘It’s reconfigured and reflected back to you as a monster that you never saw yourself as, that you actually aren’t.’
During that time, Knox said, ‘it’s hard to remember that you have value as a human.’
That is why, both women said, it was important for Knox to tell her story herself
‘I think it’s a better product because I was able to share really personal and intimate things about, you know, my life that wasn’t just like a Hollywood gloss over reality,’ Knox said.
‘Like it becomes dirtier in a good way because it has all the messy humanity and you have all these scenes that I, you know, remember being in the writer’s room being like, “This is an actual thing that has happened” and they were like, “You can’t make this stuff up.”‘
‘The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox’ premieres on Hulu on Wednesday, and stars Grace Van Patten in the titular role
But the duo also sought to play on the ‘anatomy of bias,’ aiming to showcase how events unfold and are perceived through different people’s perspectives.
‘It’s the way we story tell and it’s the way we process a story in our own minds that is impacted by everything we’re bringing to that moment that has been shaped by bias upon bias upon bias,’ Lewinsky said.
‘Every interaction that we have with a person is not just a straight interaction,’ Knox added. ‘It is colored by the context that we all carry.
‘All of us are little universes inside of ourselves and we collide with each other,’ she said.
The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox airs on Hulu, and stars Grace Van Patten in the titular role.
