Amanda Knox had ‘chills’ watching Hulu series on her life

Amanda Knox has reacted to the actress who plays her in the new Hulu limited series “The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox.”  

Knox lauded Grace Van Patten for the portrayal, telling People that her performance gave her “chills,” and Van Patten has the “ability to just take on the whimsy but the gravitas of this role.” 

“I felt like I could finally grieve the young person that I was,” an emotional Knox told the magazine at the Aug. 19 premiere screening at the New York Historical Society in New York City. “Someone recently said that what happened is someone stole my sparkle. They didn’t just steal my freedom; they stole my sparkle.”

She added, “And seeing her bring it back again — I’m just so grateful to her, that she’s honored that for me.” 

‘The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox’ 

The new series tells the true story of Knox, who was convicted of murder twice in relation to the death of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, while studying abroad in Italy in 2007. 

Knox spent four years in an Italian jail before she was exonerated in 2015 by Italy’s highest court.

The eight-part series, which former White House aide Monica Lewinsky serves as a producer, chronicles the wrongful conviction and how the ordeal has impacted her family, Kercher’s family and Knox’s boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito, who was also convicted and then acquitted for Kercher’s death, according to NPR.  

Meredith Kercher’s family reacts to show

Kercher’s sister, Stephanie, chose to remember her “for her own fight for life,” she told The Guardian in November 2024, when the series began filming in Italy.

Stephanie Kercher told The Guardian her family found it “difficult to understand” the purpose of the show.

“We will forever feel this indescribable void, but we live by Meredith’s standards with dignity,” she said at the time.

In March, Knox appeared on NewsNation’s “Banfield” to promote her book “Free: My Search for Meaning” and revealed details about her time in prison, which she said was “dehumanizing” and rife with sexual harassment.

“I was also being highly sexualized in the media as this whore who would go with anybody. I think some male guards got the idea that if they could just find themselves alone in a room with me, they could take advantage of that,” Knox told Ashleigh Banfield at the time.

On Van Patten’s performance, Knox told People, “Everyone I know who has seen this has just been like, ‘How did she do that? How?’”  

She added, “She is incredible, and I’m so grateful to her because I feel like that is something that I’ve struggled with for so long, is how much people have rendered me two-dimensional. And she finally honors that young person that I was and the person I am today.” 

Critics have had mixed reactions to the show, with Vox saying that the character portrayals are “uneven and unsatisfying.”

The outlet added that the show’s attempts to highlight Kercher are “shallow” since she and Knox only knew one another for a few weeks before her murder. 

The Hulu series premiered Wednesday, Aug. 20.