00:00I'm nervous.
00:02Why are you nervous?
00:04I think a lot of people think that I'm used to talking about this
00:09and the fact that it still bothers me is good
00:14because otherwise I wouldn't be able to convey it honestly.
00:20No one can really explain the exact sequence of events
00:23that unfolded here at the house last November.
00:25Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend face murder and sexual violence charges
00:30in connection with the death of 21-year-old British student Meredith Kircher.
00:34Well, the house where Meredith was murdered still holds its secret.
00:37In a case being watched so closely in Italy, America and Britain,
00:43who is Amanda Knox?
00:44Is she the innocent, fun-loving American student she claims?
00:48Or a debauched and ruthless young woman?
00:53I think people forget this.
00:54I was having the time of my life in Italy.
00:58Wandering the city and being there when the flea market came to town
01:03and eating roasted chestnuts on the Duomo steps and just people watching.
01:08I was 20. Meredith was 21.
01:11I was the one who barely spoke Italian.
01:13I was the one who was overly enthusiastic about everything.
01:16And Meredith was like, okay, let's go have pizza.
01:21And it was great.
01:22I really appreciated her just being there and being this warm, welcoming presence.
01:30I was into, like, classical Italian music.
01:33And so when I saw this flyer for a classical music concert that was going to be at my university,
01:40I was like, yes.
01:41I invited Meredith to come along with me.
01:44And we went to the music concert, sat next to each other,
01:46and I just made eye contact with this Italian guy who was a nerdy Italian guy.
01:54And, you know, he was cute and I thought he was cute, so I kind of, like, did the eyes
02:03and smile.
02:05And, you know, smile back and you pay attention to the music.
02:09And then at intermission, Meredith had to go and meet her friends.
02:12And so she got up and left, and then Raphael swooped in and took her spot.
02:18And then, you know, from then on out, I was in Puppy Love and we did everything together.
02:24At this point, did you have any inkling that your life would never be the same?
02:32No.
02:33Meredith Kircher was found lying in a pool of blood with her throat slit.
02:38Was it a sex game gone horribly wrong?
02:40That's what Italy's Supreme Court wants to find out.
02:44I felt like I was alone in the world.
02:48I was isolated. I was scared.
02:52I could not make sense what was happening to me, and that made me feel so small.
02:59The most compelling feature of this trial has been the character of Amanda Knox.
03:03Prosecutors believe that Knox murdered her friend as part of a drug-fueled orgy.
03:08Jealous and manipulative, suggesting she was sexually adventurous and somehow deviant.
03:13I was in a jail cell, and I did not have access to international news.
03:21What I didn't understand for a very long time was that the courtroom and the media were feeding each other.
03:33The trial was obsessed with sex.
03:36What they obsessed over was whether or not I had condoms in the bathroom.
03:42Whether or not I had a vibrator.
03:44They came up with a whole theory about a sex game that I orchestrated that ended in Meredith's murder.
03:55British tabloids painted a picture of a wild party girl with a dark side.
04:00Meredith was relaxing in her room, studying, when she was attacked at knife point.
04:04Prosecutors believe that Knox murdered her friend as part of a drug-fueled orgy.
04:09Selecito held her down, and then a second man forced her to have sex.
04:14Amanda Knox cut her throat.
04:16Killed Meredith in a drug-fueled sex game gone awry.
04:20Cut the throat of her friend while involved in an extreme sex game.
04:24That was the only story that they could put in front of people that was compelling enough to carry through
04:31a conviction.
04:33It didn't really hit me, though, how big and all-encompassing the media was until I finally got out.
04:43American co-ed, Amanda Knox walks free.
04:47This was an extraordinary day in Italy and all over the United States.
04:53Immediate liberation. She didn't commit the crime. The words of the judge.
04:57For four years, Amanda Knox has been in jail. Tonight, she's free.
05:00I finally saw it. I finally saw it in the flesh where, on the way out of the prison, I
05:07am being chased by paparazzi.
05:11Amanda, how are you feeling?
05:12In less than two hours, Amanda Knox and her family will arrive here in Seattle.
05:18You know, the last time she was in this airport, four years ago, she was just a student heading off
05:22on a school year abroad.
05:23I thought I was just gonna go home. And, like, for me, it was just overwhelming the smell of home.
05:29I smelled home and it smelled like home. I smelled the grass and the earth and the rain.
05:34And it smelled so different than the dry place that I had been in for so long.
05:39And I was so overwhelmed by the smell. And then suddenly I was like, okay, I guess I have to
05:46talk to, like, a hundred people.
05:48I'm really overwhelmed right now. I was looking down from the airplane and it seemed like everything wasn't real.
06:02So, I just want, my family's the most important thing to me right now and I just want to go
06:07and be with them.
06:11And while I was overwhelmed with this, I was being asked to be ready to stand up to the judgment
06:20of others.
06:22I don't get to be anonymous ever. Ever.
06:27And I think that's a thing that people don't think about very often because most people get to be anonymous
06:33at least sometime.
06:35I don't. I don't get to swipe on Tinder.
06:41I don't get to wear a t-shirt with a skull and crossbones on it.
06:48I don't get to make a dark joke.
06:50I could not be certain that someone befriending me wasn't doing so to get to me.
06:56For me, I think the most drastic challenge was finding love and feeling like someone loved me for me.
07:08What I had to do was juggle being the Amanda Knox in the tabloids and Amanda Knox the just person
07:22doing her thing, living her life.
07:28So, yeah, I went and got a job.
07:31Yeah, I went to university.
07:33Yes, I even made a friend in poetry class.
07:35And yes, I even eventually fell in love.
07:41But I could not do those things if I didn't accept what had happened to me as a part of
07:50who I was.
07:53I want to acknowledge that this stuff is happening.
07:58I want to discuss it in a way where human beings and women can come together with really disparate examples
08:09of the same thing and find common ground and prove that we're not crazy for saying that it's happening.
08:28I want to acknowledge that it's happening.
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