

Hard Knox with Amanda Knox
Knox Robinson Productions
You don't have to be stuck in a prison cell to feel trapped in your own life. Drawing on her extraordinary journey, Amanda Knox explores how we make sense of struggle, truth, and change in a world that constantly tests us. In conversations with writers, thinkers, and creators Hard Knox dives into the ideas and experiences that help us grow more grounded, thoughtful, and free.
Each week, subscribers also have a chance to Ask Amanda Anything. Amanda is here to answer your questions, about her, about you, about how to lead a more fulfilling life. And nothing is off the table!
To submit your questions and comments, subscribe at www.amandaknox.substack.com, where you’ll also gain access to ad-free and bonus episodes, subscriber-only essays, and more.
www.amandaknox.com
Twitter: @amandaknox
IG: @amamaknox
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Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 9, 2025 • 48min
Ask Amanda Anything - Punchlines, Pain, Permission
The discussion dives into the complex relationship between trauma and humor—how to laugh without dismissing the pain. Amanda addresses societal expectations of grace from those who’ve suffered and the value of being authentically messy. Topics of meaningful possessions versus digitization spark a debate on what truly matters in emergencies. Listeners ponder career choices, weighing passion against practicality, while Amanda reflects on her alternate life paths. Lastly, her experience of seeing her younger self portrayed on screen adds an intriguing twist.

Oct 7, 2025 • 58min
Why Comedy Is the Last Refuge of the Honest (Michael Moynihan)
Michael Moynihan is a journalist, co-host of The Fifth Column podcast, and a writer known for his unflinching takes on politics, culture, and free expression. In this episode, he and Amanda discuss how satire and skepticism cut through today’s noise, why outrage has become the default language of public life and how to keep your sense of humor intact when the world seems determined to lose its mind.
Reach out to us at www.amandaknox.com or amandaknox.substack.com
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Free: My Search for Meaning
Waking Up Meditation App https://www.wakingup.com/Amandaknox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 3, 2025 • 1h 3min
Old School: Lost in Faith (Megan Phelps-Roper)
Welcome to Old School, where we revisit some of our best episodes from previous years with some current reflections on why these episodes are still fascinating. In this “Old School” episode, Megan Phelps-Roper talks with Amanda about her upbringing in and departure from the Westboro Baptist Church. What does it mean to be lost in faith, to lose our faith in an ideology or in a person, and how do we find our balance in aftermath?
Reach out to us at www.amandaknox.com or amandaknox.substack.com
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Free: My Search for Meaning
Waking Up Meditation App https://www.wakingup.com/Amandaknox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 2, 2025 • 43min
Ask Amanda Anything – Stand-Up, Trust, and Dating After Notoriety
This week on Ask Amanda Anything: From prison letters to public scrutiny, Amanda reflects on trust, resilience, and what it means to be seen. She shares her take on Kim Kardashian’s surprising role in criminal justice reform, the philosophy behind her Waking Up series, and why some bonds from prison endure while others fade. Along the way: lessons from stand-up comedy, the challenges of dating under the shadow of notoriety, and the bittersweet experience of letting go after years spent creating The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox.
Reach out to us at www.amandaknox.com or amandaknox.substack.com
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Free: My Search for Meaning
Waking Up Meditation App https://www.wakingup.com/Amandaknox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 30, 2025 • 1h 22min
How Hate Becomes a Path to Compassion (R.G. Shore)
R.G. Shore, author of The Ocean Inside Me and a meditation teacher who began his practice in prison, joins Amanda for a conversation on resilience and self-discovery. They discuss how meditation can turn confinement into freedom, why facing hate can lead to compassion and how surrendering to the hardest circumstances can reveal unexpected strength.
Reach out to us at www.amandaknox.com or amandaknox.substack.com
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Free: My Search for Meaning
Waking Up Meditation App https://www.wakingup.com/Amandaknox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

27 snips
Sep 25, 2025 • 57min
How Trauma Rewires Desire (Katie Simon)
Katie Simon, a sexuality journalist and author of 'Tell Me What You Like', explores paths to healing after sexual assault. She discusses the essential role of listening to one's body as a form of self-preservation and addresses the lack of trauma-informed sex education. Katie shares her personal journey, debunks myths about survivor sexuality, and emphasizes the impact of community support. She also highlights how storytelling can empower survivors and discusses the therapeutic potential of BDSM practices.

Sep 23, 2025 • 58min
How Belonging Shapes Democracy (Yascha Mounk)
Yascha is a professor at Johns Hopkins University, the Founder of Persuasion and the host of The Good Fight podcast, known for his work on democracy, identity, and polarization. In this conversation with Amanda, he describes how growing up between cultures shaped his obsession with belonging and freedom, why personal resilience matters just as much as political resilience and how finding your voice in a world that wants to define you can illuminate the fight for democracy itself.
Reach out to us at www.amandaknox.com or amandaknox.substack.com
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Free: My Search for Meaning
Waking Up Meditation App https://www.wakingup.com/Amandaknox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 19, 2025 • 1h 2min
Old School: Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (Dr. Kari Nixon)
Welcome to Old School, where we revisit some of our best episodes from previous years with some current reflections on why these episodes are still fascinating. In this “Old School” episode, Dr. Kari Nixon joins Amanda to talk the intersection of death, disease, and community and how illness impacts identity. It's a topic she pursued without even realizing that she herself was a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, which despite the flashy true crime narratives often manifests in much more subtle ways than you might expect.
Reach out to us at www.amandaknox.com or amandaknox.substack.com
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Free: My Search for Meaning
Waking Up Meditation App https://www.wakingup.com/Amandaknox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 18, 2025 • 38min
Ask Amanda Anything - TV Portrayal, Italian Fluency , Han Solo or Indiana Jones
This week on Ask Amanda Anything: How it feels to watch your own life turned into television. Why false confessions still shape the way justice fails. How a flood of letters — from Harry Potter fan fiction to marriage proposals — carried Amanda through prison. And why the eternal debate of Han Solo versus Indiana Jones reveals more about resilience than you might think.
Reach out to us at www.amandaknox.com or amandaknox.substack.com
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Free: My Search for Meaning
Waking Up Meditation App https://www.wakingup.com/Amandaknox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 16, 2025 • 1h 4min
How to Drink Your Way Sober (Katie Herzog)
Katie Herzog is a journalist, podcaster, and author of Drink Your Way Sober, a candid and science-based look at alternative paths to recovery. In this discussion with Amanda they uncover answers to some hard questions. How do you break free from addiction when the standard treatments don’t work? Why might shame, denial, and even doctors themselves stand in the way of effective solutions? And how can rethinking what sobriety looks like open the door to resilience, freedom, and a life beyond craving?
Drink Your Way Sober by Katie Herzog www.drinkyourwaysober.com
Blocked and Reported www.blockedandreported.org
Reach out to us at www.amandaknox.com or amandaknox.substack.com
X: @amandaknox IG: @amamaknox Bluesky: @amandaknox.com
Free: My Search for Meaning
Waking Up Meditation App https://www.wakingup.com/Amandaknox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices


