Amanda Knox Claims Long Prison Sentencing Is An 'Infertility Crisis,' Thought Motherhood 'Had Been Stolen' From Her While Behind Bars
Amanda Knox is speaking out about her difficult infertility journey.
The 34-year-old — who recently welcomed a baby girl Eureka Muse — recently explained the effect that her prison sentence had on her fertility.
Knox is known for being wrongfully convicted for the 2007 murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher while they were studying abroad in Perugia, Italy.
The Waiting to Be Heard author was originally sentenced to 26 years in prison, along with her then-boyfriend Rafaele Sollecito, who received 25 years.
After an appeal, Knox and Sollecito were eventually freed in 2013 and definitively exonerated in 2015, although she now insists that the wrongful conviction had lasting effects — especially on her dream of motherhood.
“My first infertility crisis occurred when I was sentenced to 26 years in prison for a murder I didn’t commit,” she wrote in an essay titled “Sentenced to Infertility.” “I had been on trial for two years before that verdict was handed down, and until then, I’d naively assumed that the truth couldn’t help but win out, that this was all a misunderstanding.”
While she recalled always picturing herself to be a mother, the activist thought her childbearing years would pass by her while she was in prison. “Having children wasn’t even a question,” she said. “Now I was facing the prospect of being released back into free society at age 46.”
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“It wasn’t just my freedom that had been stolen from me; motherhood had been stolen from me,” Knox added in the essay while also remembering painful memories of wanting to kill herself while locked in a prison cell.
Knox described her experience at a conference for wrongfully convicted people, where she learned that more women like her had similar experiences. She also became more attune to the ongoing “infertility crisis” that is particular to women while behind bars.
“A 20-year sentence for a woman isn’t just time —it’s a life that could be, a child waiting for the chance to be born,” she concluded.
After previously suffering a miscarriage, Knox and her husband Christopher Robinson announced that they were expecting a baby back in August. Knox later shared the first and only public picture of their tot on Instagram last month.
“Since my exoneration, I’ve struggled to reclaim my identity and protect the people I love from being exploited,” the new mom wrote in the post on October 22. “It’s not easy, and I often feel like I’m trying to invent good choices out of bad whole cloth.”
“I know that I cannot 100 percent protect my daughter from the kind of treatment I’ve suffered, but I’m doing the best I can,” she continued. “Which is why this will be the only picture of her I will ever share on social media. I’m so grateful to everyone who has wished @emceecarbon and I well on our journey to parenthood. Thank you for believing in us.”
Knox also chronicled her pregnancy journey in her podcast series “Labyrinths: Getting Lost with Amanda Knox” along with Robinson.
