text: Amanda Knox may have finally cleared her name, but eight years of legal battles have left the Seattle native penniless, exhausted and traumatized from stress, claims her biographer. 'In prison, she was threatened with rape from a male guard, it was a really terrible experience,' says Trial By Jury author, Douglas Preston. 'I think it has really affected her, it's really hard to lead a normal life after that.' Scroll down for video . Strain and relief: Amanda Knox spoke outside her parents' home on March 27 flanked by her fiancé Colin Sutherland after she was exonerated for the murder of Meredith Kercher in November 2007 . Three weeks after an Italian court overturned her conviction for the 2007 murder of British student, Meredith Kercher, Preston told RadarOnline that Knox is living out a bittersweet victory. 'She went to Italy as a normal 20-year-old, West Coast girl, a soccer player, rock climber, very naïve,' says Preston about Knox's ill-fated adventure to Perugia. 'So many terrible things happened to her in Italy, so many lies were said, and the online savagery directed at her, I've never seen anything like it.' So affected has Knox been by her struggle to be exonerated by the Italian courts, that Preston hinted to RadarOnline that she is suffering PTSD and seeking professional help. 'Anyone who has been through what she's been through is going to have issues. It's like a soldier come back from Iraq, having children shot in front of him, you've been through a horrific experience. If it doesn't affect you physically, it affects you emotionally,' he says to Radar. Family struggle: Amanda Knox stands on the front porch with her fiancé, her mother Edda Mellas and stepfather, Chris Mellas. According to her biographer, Knox and her family have spent millions fighting her conviction . On top of her fight to be declared innocent, Preston claims that Knox has been ravaged financially by legal fees. This despite receiving a reported $4 million advance for her 2013 book, Waiting To Be Heard. 'The ordeal has been hugely emotional, but the financial impact has been catastrophic,' says Preston. 'Amanda received a $4 million advance for her book, that money has all gone, immediately out of the door to pay legal fees and there is nothing left,' Preston explains. 'She really wants to establish that she's innocent in Italy, they've paid a lot of fees to Italian lawyers.' Knox, 27, fought the Italian legal system for eight years, spent four years in prison and went through three appeals until she and her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito were exonerated by the Italian Supreme Court in late March for the murder of Meredith Kercher. Shared experience: This split picture shows Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, arriving with penitentiary police to a court hearing in Perugia September 26, 2008 . Beginning of her nightmare: Amanda Knox leaves with penitentiary police after a court hearing in Perugia in September 2008 after she and her ex-boyfriend were arrested for the murder of Meredith Kercher . Kercher was discovered in a pool of blood in the house she shared with Kercher in November 2007. The British student had been stabbed four times and her throat slit in what the Italian courts claimed was a sex-game gone wrong. Knox and Sollecito was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to 26 years behind bars, but were acquitted in 2011. Knox immediutely returned to the United States protesting her innocence, but in January 2014, the Italian courts overturned that acquittal and reinstated the guilty verdict. However, the case ultimately went to the Supreme Court and their conviction was overturned. Tears: Amanda Knox breaks down after hearing she had been acquitted of the murder of Meredith Kercher in October, 2011 . Return home: Amanda Knox pauses emotionally while speaking during a news conference at Sea-Tac International Airport, Washington after landing there on a flight from Italy, October 4, 2011 after her acquittal . On the announcement of her innocence, Knox appeared on her Seattle doorstep to make a statement. Surrounded by her father, Curt Knox, mother, Edda Mellas, sister, Deanna Knox, and fiancé, Colin Sutherland, the 27-year-old broke down in tears as she told the press: 'Meredith was my friend and she deserved so much in this life. I am the lucky one.' Amanda Knox could now receive millions in compensation after being cleared by Italy's top court of murdering Surrey student Meredith Kercher. The 27-year-old and her former lover Raffaele Sollecito both served four years in prison after being convicted of the murder in 2007. It is thought that Knox will return to Italy, despite having vowed never to, and will write about the country's legal and judicial system while she is there. Both Knox and Sollecito are reportedly planning to seek compensation for time wrongly spent in prison. Both Knox (above) and Sollecito could now seek compensation for time wrongly spent in prison . While no figures have been revealed, compensation for such cases regularly run into seven figure sums. Carlo Dalla Vedova, her Italian lawyer, confirmed Miss Knox will 'be seeking compensation for wrongful imprisonment,' according to The Telegraph. Mr Sollecito’s father Francesco told the newspaper: 'You could hardly quantify a compensation figure, it has been such an awful business.' She added that she was 'full of joy' following Italy's highest court's decision to overturn her murder conviction, saying: 'I'm incredibly grateful for what has happened. For the justice I have received, for the support I have had from everyone, from my family and my friends to strangers.' Shortly after the verdict, Knox, who has said she would never willingly return to Italy, released a statement, saying she was 'tremendously relieved and grateful' and knowing she was innocent gave her 'strength in the darkest times of this ordeal'. She added: 'Throughout this ordeal, I have received invaluable support from family, friends, and strangers. To them, I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your kindness has sustained me.'
target: Amanda Knox, 27, and her family have been left in financial difficulties by the fight to clear her name .
  Biographer Douglas Preston claims the Seattle native now suffers PTSD .
  Claims that the Knox family have used up the $4 million advance she got for autobiography .
  He says that despite being declared innocent last month the victory was bittersweet .
  In late March, Knox, 27, and ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were acquitted of murder of Meredith Kercher in November 2007 .
  Pair were convicted of murder in December 2009, before being acquitted in October 2011 and reconvicted in 2014 .
  Spent a total of four years behind bars while they were in Italy .