Amanda Knox is offering some words of advice and empathy for Gypsy Rose Blanchard, the Missouri woman who was recently released from prison for her role in the murder of her abusive mother, Claudine “Dee Dee” Blanchard.
In a piece published this weekend for The Free Press, Knox advised Blanchard that it may take some time to come to terms with her new reality and to find peace in her life.
“She may not yet realize that she has entered a new kind of prison: the prison of public opinion,” Knox wrote, according to Fox News. “When I look at Gypsy, even though she was guilty and I was innocent, I see she is blundering into freedom in the exact same way as I did.”
Blanchard, now 32, pleaded guilty in 2016 to second-degree murder for having her now ex-boyfriend, Nicholas Paul Godejohn, fatally stab Dee Dee at her home in Springfield. Godejohn was sentenced to life in prison and Blanchard spent seven years behind bars.
Dee Dee forced Blanchard to use a wheelchair and feeding tube, take unneeded medication, and subjected her to unnecessary medical treatments. Before the slaying, Dee Dee allegedly isolated her daughter and tied her to a bed to stop her from escaping.
Some experts have said that Dee Dee may have suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental illness in which someone tries to get attention by pretending that a person under their care is ill.
Knox, who spent four years in an Italian prison in connection with the 2007 death of Meredith Kercher before being exonerated, opened up about the struggles she endured trying to rebuild her life. She also offered some wisdom to Blanchard.
“It’s taken me over a decade to finally feel like I’m in control of my life, no longer trapped by my own story. I’ve learned that I am more than the worst thing that ever happened to me, but where there is value in sharing my story with others, I’m entitled to do so. The same goes for Gypsy,” Knox wrote, according to Fox News. “
She is more than the horrible abuse she suffered, she is more than a conspirator to murder. And now that she’s admitted to what she’s done and served her time, she doesn’t owe anybody anything.”
Knox added: “When I emerged from prison it was into a world that had already decided who I was, what I’d done, and what I deserved. I’ve been free for over twelve years, and I’m still wrestling back my name. Now, Gypsy will have to do the same.”
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[Feature Photo: FILE – In this Sept. 26, 2008 file photo, Amanda Knox, center, is escorted by Italian penitentiary police officers to Perugia’s court. Italy’s top criminal court has scathingly faulted prosecutors for presenting a flawed and hastily constructed case against Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend, saying Monday, Sept. 7, 2015 it threw out their convictions for the 2007 murder of her British roommate in part because there was no proof they were in the bedroom where the woman was fatally stabbed. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, File)]
