Everyone remembers the saga of Amanda Knox, who, during a semester abroad her junior year of college in 2007, was connected to the murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, who was found dead in their apartment just a few months into the program. Knox was arrested and found guilty of the crime in 2009 and was imprisoned for years, only fully exonerated of the charges in 2015. It's this story that takes center stage in Netflix's new documentary, Amanda Knox . The film hopes to set the record straight on who Knox really is, behind all the tabloid stories and courtroom theories. But, before you see what she has to say in the documentary, take a look back at these seven essential quotes from Amanda Knox's memoir, Waiting to be Heard .
Published in 2013, the book details Knox's arrest, conviction, and her release from jail in 2011 after an appeal overturned her conviction. (Knox was later re-convicted in 2013, only to have that conviction thrown out by a higher Italian court in 2015.) Waiting to be Heard doesn't cover the events following her 2013 freedom, nor does it detail her great journey home. Nevertheless, these seven quotes from Knox's memoir will help shine some line on her most definitive years.
1. "I thought, This is impossible, this is impossible, this is a nightmare, this can't be true, it's not fair, it's not fair."
Knox wrote about her shock when she heard her guilty verdict in 2011, noting that she didn't even hear the judge sentence her to 26 years in prison.
2. "Germany would have been the safer choice, but safety didn't worry me. I was preoccupied by independence. I trusted my sense of responsibility, even if I sometimes made emotional choices, instead of logical ones — and sometimes they were wrong."
Before traveling across the world, Knox had to convince her parents to let her go on the trip, hoping that she could gain some independence abroad.
3. "I want you to know that I'm OK because I'm not dead inside, I promise, and I don't want you to be dead inside."
Knox incorporated diary entries and excerpts of letters she wrote while in prison in her memoir, including a letter she wrote to her mother before the 2011 verdict to comfort her should the court find Knox guilty.
4. "Things seem unreal to me, like a dream, and I am unsure if they are real things that happened or are just dreams my head has made to try to answer the questions in my head and the questions I am being asked."
Knox recalled being confused during her police interrogations, a feeling compounded by the fact that she and her boyfriend and co-defendant, Raffaele Sollecito had allegedly smoked weed the night of the murder.
5. "First I showed not enough emotion; then I showed too much."
Reflecting on the public perception of her during the trial, Knox noted that felt she couldn't win in the eyes of the press. Either she was showing no emotion, which meant she seemed like a cold killer, or showing too much emotion and considered insensitive. Either way, she felt that the press and prosecution would consider her emotions an admission of guilt.
6. "My guard wanted to know who I had sex with, how I like it — and if I'd do it with him."
In her memoir, Knox does not paint a pretty picture of Capanne Prison, where she was held for four years. She claimed that she was harassed by fellow prisoners and guards alike, causing her to feel completely isolated.
7. "I started to understand how you could feel so locked inside your own life that you could be so desperate to escape, even if that mean that means that you no longer exist."
During her time in jail, Knox seemed to begin to have a greater understanding for those who commit suicide behind bars. Luckily, things never got that far for her, despite her being placed on suicide watch after her 2009 conviction.
Knox will, no doubt, add to these moving, and somewhat disturbing, quotes in the new documentary, which features one-on-one interviews with Knox herself.
