Amanda Knox: Million Dollar Baby

From the paper cup of coffee she holds to what she wears as she strolls through town, America’s tabloid press follows the adventures of the acquitted Amanda Knox down to the last detail. This young woman’s story is potentially worth millions of dollars for the media, for Amanda Knox and perhaps even for the family of murder victim Meredith Kercher.

Everything played out as expected, and now it’s all about the money — a lot of money. Two major U.S. television networks, ABC and NBC, are locked in a bitter bidding war over the rights to exclusively interview Amanda Knox in her first interview since she was acquitted by a court in Italy, where she was depicted as a cold-blooded killer. Millions of Americans followed her fate for years. The sum of $10 million has been mentioned, and film rights will probably also enter into the negotiations. The sum of $1 million has been mentioned for the book rights alone.

Her story, at least from the perspective of marketing specialists, is just too good: A young, attractive American student gets entangled in a foreign murder case and, in the course of a trial marked by questionable evidence and dubious witnesses, is ultimately convicted of murder. After four years of detention in an Italian prison and an unprecedented campaign of sympathy organized by her family and friends in Seattle, an appeals court overturns her conviction, and the 24-year-old is now back home. Happy ending.

Since arriving back home, Knox has received what the tabloid press calls “the full treatment”: Paparazzi camped outside her house, along with unending speculation. The fewer facts there are to report, the wilder the stories get. For example, the gossip blog “Hollywood Life” is reporting that Amanda now wants to have a baby as quickly as possible, fathered by her former Seattle boyfriend, David Johnsrud, nicknamed DJ. Knox had ended her relationship with him when she left America to study in Italy.

Not Much Left to Chance

The real basis for that story is simple: Johnsrud never broke contact with the Knox family after Amanda’s imprisonment and was often present for their periodic telephone conversations with the imprisoned Amanda. They met again briefly just prior to her return to Seattle. In 2010, DJ confided to the British tabloid “Daily Mirror” that he hoped he and Amanda could take a backpacking trip together after she was free. Her father told reporters he thought it somewhat premature to speculate about a new page in their romance.

Nothing goes unseen. It was also reported that while riding with her father, they stopped at a Starbucks for coffee to go. A shopping outing with her older sister resulted in detailed reports of what both were wearing, just as if they were Hollywood stars.

So far, the family seems able to take all this in stride, which is no great surprise: They have hired a public relations consultant, Gogerty Marriott, a specialist in crisis PR. From that, one may assume that very little of what happens concerning Amanda Knox is left to chance.

Her father feeds the tabloids with details. That’s how we know, for example, that Amanda sunbathed in her back yard — because there wasn’t any green grass in prison. He reports that his daughter’s imprisonment hardly changed her at all, except that she sometimes involuntarily reverts to speaking Italian and that she’s now distrustful of governmental authority since her experience with the Italian justice system. Curt Knox said other than that, it’s almost as if Amanda had never been gone. What more could we want?

A Somewhat Different Kind of Prison

Amanda’s family is effective in shielding her. Aside from brief trips outside the house, she spends most of her time with her mother, something her father jokes is a different sort of prison. And whether by chance or by design, her image as a victim of injustice is carefully cultivated — something that goes over well with an American public prone to distrusting government authority, especially the authorities in those supposedly corrupt foreign countries.

Her younger sister, Deanna, told ABC News that Amanda had been repeatedly molested in prison. One guard, she claimed, approached her sister in her cell, making sexual innuendos. On another occasion, a prison official had Knox brought to his office and tried to engage her in a sexual conversation. Shortly after her arrest, the authorities informed Knox that she had tested positive for HIV. That was simply a lie. Knox wrote in her diary at the time, “Please, oh please. Let it not be true.”

Sooner or later, Amanda Knox will tell her own story — for a great deal of money. Her family could use it: Their attorney fees and their payments to the PR firm are said to have long since passed the million dollar mark. In addition, according to the British tabloid The Sun, the parents of murder victim Meredith Kercher have announced that they will file suit against Amanda Knox in civil court since they’re still convinced of her guilt in the case. The talk there is of 8 million euros, or 11 million, in damages.