Amanda Knox and Monica Lewinsky are an unlikely celebrity friendship duo.
Both women were the subject of intense media scrutiny when they were young women and thrust into the public eye.
Monica was the intern who had an affair with President Bill Clinton while he was in office and Amanda was convicted, and later exonerated, for the murder of her fellow exchange student and housemate Meredith Kercher in Italy in 2007.
Now, the women have teamed up as executive producers on the new TV series, The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, which is based on Amanda’s 2013 memoir Waiting to Be Heard.
Here’s everything we know about Amanda Knox and Monica Lewinsky’s friendship and working relationship.
HOW DID AMANDA KNOX AND MONICA LEWINSKY MEET?
Amanda Knox and Monica Lewinsky first met when they appeared on the same panel discussion in 2017.
After the event, Amanda “begged” the organisers to give her the opportunity to meet Monica personally. Monica then invited her to her hotel room where the two women shared a pot of tea and their stories with each other.
“She had a lot of advice about reclaiming your voice and your narrative,” Amanda told The Hollywood Reporter (THR) in a joint interview. “That ended up being a turning point for me.”
The women said they bonded immediately because they experienced the similar traumatic experiences.
“When I met Monica, I was just glimpsing what it could mean to stand up for myself — and hope strangers would actually see me as a human being. So talking to her was a huge relief. No one had walked that walk before me more than she did,” Amanda told THR.
“When we met, I saw in her the pain that I saw in myself. She was desperate to get out of this box she had been put in. But you don’t often see people reclaiming a narrative in public. There wasn’t a road map for,” Monica added.
“I could see that there was a pain in her and it’s a very unique pain that I recognised,” Monica also told CNN.
“So I think there was an instant connection, an instant understanding of two young women who had become public people who hadn’t wanted to, and had lost a lot of their identity.”
Amanda said Monica made her feel “safe” and showed her that she could reclaim her voice and narrative and live a meaningful life after trauma.
WHAT IS THE TWISTED TALE OF AMANDA KNOX ABOUT?
Monica and Amanda teamed up to create The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, which premieres on Disney+ on August 20.
The series follows Amanda’s (played by Tell Me Lies’ Grace van Patten in the series) journey from being wrongfully imprisoned for Meredith’s murder to finally winning her freedom and adjusting back to normal life after she was released.
“From the start, we both felt strongly that this series would not be just a courtroom drama that ends when Amanda Knox gets out of prison,” Amanda said.
“It’s anchored in the long consequences of the trauma and how a person rebuilds their life — and their faith in humanity — by taking risks.”
The now 38-year-old said she wants people to know there is life and growth after trauma.
“Everyone else moves on but then you have to spend years trying to reorient yourself and make sense of your life,” Monica added.
Monica said she hopes the series shows people what happens when the media frenzy is over.
“It’s not just a true-crime show or a courtroom drama,” she said. “It’s a look at the media and the rush to judgment you often see in cases like this. People forget there are actual human beings behind all these headlines. With some of that understanding, maybe it won’t happen — or happen as badly — to the next person.”
The series also stars Bad Sisters’ Sharon Horgan, Anna Van Patten (Grace’s younger sister) and The Sex Lives of College Girls’ Rebecca Wisocky.
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