Amanda Knox spent nearly four years in an Italian prison after being accused of murdering her roommate while studying abroad.
Italy's highest court acquitted the now-37-year-old of murder in 2015. Today, 10 years later, the married mother of two said that if her kids ever want to head overseas for an education, she would give them her blessing.
Knox, whose book "Free: My Search for Meaning" was recently published, told Fox News Digital that she encourages students to study abroad and travel. But she also warned of the risks that come with not staying closely connected with loved ones when away from home.
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"I think that it is, most of the time, a life-changing experience," Knox said about studying abroad. "I think it makes us better people to engage with other cultures and other people and go outside our comfort zones."
"I think the thing that I would always recommend to anyone, any person who’s abroad, is just to remember that you are removed from your safety net, that part of your life you never really think about, the one that is always there to potentially pick you up should you fall down or get lost – that’s not there anymore," she stressed.
Knox noted that this is "a time in our lives when we feel like we are adults when we’re not, and we’re indestructible when we’re not."
"You should remember, especially as a young person, that asking for help does not make you any less of an individual or an adult," she said. "In fact, knowing when and how to ask for help is a very adult thing to do. So that’s what I would recommend . . . just be a little more cautious. Ask for help. When in doubt, always rely on other people around you. Always rely on your family."
She also encouraged other parents to allow their children to spread their wings despite their fears.
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"Don’t be afraid to let your children go off into the world and become the beautiful human beings that they’re going to be," she said. "I think one of the really beautiful things that we have now is the ability to stay in touch much more than we were able to do back when I was studying abroad.
"Stay in touch, be there, offer support, be there for anything. Being good listeners, I think, would be the main thing that I would recommend to parents. Kids don’t like being told what to do, but listen and be that extra safety net of paying attention to something that sounds sketchy, and just offer support.
"Pay attention to what your children say to you," Knox added.
Knox said she’s begun to slowly open up about her past to her eldest child, age three, who has started asking questions.
"My daughter is so smart . . . and she doesn’t really have a sense of tragedy yet," Knox explained. "She knows that things aren’t fair sometimes, but she encounters the world in terms of fairytales and play. And so, having to communicate with her on her level in some way means being playful – even about the worst experience of my life."
"She wants to play ‘Mama goes to Italy with me,’" Knox continued. "She’s interpreted that to mean if we go to a park and there’s a spot where there are bars, she’ll go behind the bars and sort of shake them and go, ‘Let me out!’
"It’s just so silly, and it just really puts it into a new perspective. . . . She knows that mama was very sad for a long time, and mommy’s friend was really hurt. . . . It’s mind-boggling and also, super-relieving."
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In her book, Knox described how people often assumed she wouldn’t set foot in Italy again. She wrote that some would even apologize to her for suggesting having dinner at an Italian restaurant. Knox said that, despite what had happened to her in Italy, she still loves the country's food and culture.
Knox returned to Italy in 2019 as a keynote speaker for a criminal justice conference hosted by the Italy Innocence Project.
The Seattle native was a 20-year-old student in Perugia studying abroad when British student Meredith Kercher was found stabbed to death in 2007. The 21-year-old was found in the cottage the young women shared with two Italian women.
The case made global headlines as suspicion fell quickly on Knox and her boyfriend of just days, Raffaele Sollecito. But another man, Rudy Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was eventually convicted of murder after his DNA was found at the crime scene. The European court ordered Italy to pay Knox damages for the police failures, noting that she had been vulnerable as a foreign student not fluent in Italian.
Knox returned to the United States in 2011, after being freed by an appeals court in Perugia, and has established herself as a global campaigner for the wrongly convicted. Over the years, she has attempted to clear her name of all criminal wrongdoing.
Today, Knox is on the board of directors of the Innocence Center, a nonprofit law firm that aims to free innocent people from prison. She also frequently discusses how high-profile cases impact loved ones in a podcast she hosts with her husband, called "Labyrinths."
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Guede, 37, was freed in 2021, after serving most of his 16-year sentence.
In January of this year, Italy’s highest-ranking court affirmed a slander finding against Knox for accusing an innocent man, Patrick Lumumba, of murdering her flatmate.
Knox's defense team said she had accused Lumumba, a Congolese man who employed her at a bar, during a long night of questioning and under pressure from police, whom they said had fed her false information. The European Court of Human Rights found that the police had deprived her of a lawyer and provided a translator who acted more as a mediator.
Based on Knox’s statements, Lumumba was brought in for questioning, despite having an ironclad alibi. His business suffered, and he eventually moved to Poland with his Polish wife. He previously said that Knox "has never apologized to me."
Knox does not risk any more time in jail. She has continued her legal battle with the aim of clearing her name.
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On a recent episode of her podcast, Knox said, "I hate the fact that I have to live with consequences for a crime I did not commit."
