Knox, 39, will perform a stand-up comedy show titled Cartwheel at the Edinburgh Fringe, just over a decade after her acquittal. The title refers to a story that once claimed she did cartwheels in a police station after her friend's death.
Meredith Kercher, a British foreign exchange student, was killed in Perugia, Italy, in 2007. Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were arrested and convicted of murder and sexual assault in 2009. They maintained their innocence and, after years of legal battles, were acquitted of sexual assault and murder by Italy's highest court in 2015.
Knox, now married with two children and living on Vashon-Maury Island in rural Washington, said she initially planned to make a show about motherhood but was told by comedian friends she had to "address the elephant in the room".
Red lines
Speaking to The Telegraph, Knox said she did not believe any topics were off limits for comedy but insisted she would not joke about Ms Kercher's death. "I don’t joke about Meredith’s death. I joke a lot about how I was vilified, but I don’t joke about her murder. That’s just a line for me. I set red lines for myself that other comedians don’t. I’ve had other comedians pitch me jokes that I just would not do," she said.
Asked whether her loved ones were concerned about backlash, she referred to a gag she says on stage: "My friends and family are actually really nervous for me, despite my spotless record in the court of public opinion."
Family response
The Telegraph reported that Ms Kercher's relatives, according to their lawyer Francesco Maresca, have called the idea of the show "offensive and deplorable".
Knox said she would want to talk to them if they reached out. "Something that is an unresolved wound for me is the fact that I have never been able to talk to them. I assume they still assume that I’m guilty. I would very much want to establish that kind of communication, but I’m not going to have my life dictated by what they want for me," she said.
She added: "We share a grief, and we both knew a real person who died, and who primarily belongs to them, but I’m a person too. I have the life that I have lived, and I have the right to tell my own story, and Meredith is a big part of that story. And I think I honour her."
Honouring Meredith
Knox said she believed Ms Kercher would "appreciate the show because it grapples with what it means to be a young woman, and it is honest", and that her late roommate would have found it "funny".
Knox has previously shared her story in documentaries, an eight-part TV drama she produced with Monica Lewinsky, and books. Rudy Hermann Guede was convicted of Ms Kercher's murder in 2008 and was released from prison in 2021 after serving 13 years of a 16-year term.
