For the first time since she was acquitted of murder in her high-profile Massachusetts trial, Karen Read sat down for an extensive interview. Read said in the interview she doesn't feel safe living in Massachusetts and addressed the financial troubles she faces.

Read spoke for over two hours in an interview posted Monday on the "Rotten Mango" podcast.

Accused of hitting and killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, with her SUV after a night of heavy drinking and leaving him to die in the snow outside a Canton home, Read stood trial twice. Her first trial in 2024 ended with a hung jury. In 2025, Read's mistrial ended with her being acquitted of all charges except operating under the influence of liquor.

Read and her attorneys say that O'Keefe was killed during a fight inside the Canton home where his body was found in the yard. They claim that multiple people, including law enforcement, conspired to frame her.

O'Keefe's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Read and that legal fight is still ongoing.

Karen Read on "Rotten Mango"

During her podcast interview, Read said she still feels "like a fish out of water."

"I'm still not living in an acquittal world. I thought I would just bounce back on a spring. It hasn't been that way. I don't quite understand why," Read said. "I'm trying to understand why I haven't felt more celebratory. What I think is that I lived with some very singular emotions. Fright, anger and anxiety. It was very intense every waking hour. Every hour I thought about my freedom and if I could lose it. And those feelings don't just disappear when a jury foreman says 'Not guilty.'"

Read said she still lives with her parents most of the time.

"I don't feel safe in Massachusetts"

Read said she wants to leave Massachusetts as soon as possible.

"No. god I hope I don't have to stay much longer in Massachusetts," Read said, adding that she plans to live "Anywhere but Massachusetts."

"I could be in the middle of the woods, I could be on a farm, I could be in the water. I don't care. I care who I'm with," Read said. "I don't want to see another Massachusetts state trooper. I don't care if they're reformed or a under a different colonel. I have taken too many shots at law enforcement to feel protected by law enforcemen."

Read said she doesn't know what the future holds for her, but that she hopes to make change in ways other than practicing law herself.

"I hope the good law enforcement knows why I feel the way I do. But I don't feel safe in Massachusetts. I don't feel that the politics are safe. It's not that those problems don't exist everywhere else," she said. "I don't want to be a lawyer. I don't want to see any more of the law. I will try to make change in other ways. But the legal system just feels so broken."

Karen Read's financial issues

The podcast host asked Read about the perception that she has cashed in on her case with Hollywood deals. Read said that while she does have deals in place for movie and television projects, she has not made money and has no book deal.

Read said she will eventually write a book along with her lawyer, Alan Jackson. She said on other projects, like documentaries, the recently released Lifetime movie, or the upcoming project where she will be played by Elizabeth Banks, "I have not made anything. Not a dime."

Read added that she continues to struggle financially. She said she sold her home, has been unable to work for years, used her life savings, and cashed her retirement to pay for her defense.

She said it can be frustrating to see the amount of projects that have been made about her, while she does not benefit from them.

"I have gone through a lot of pain and lost a lot. You're telling my story to make money, and you're not involving me. How much will people take on my coattails and not show any economical appreciation?" Read said. "I wish these people luck in their endeavors but I hope they know what I've lost for them to tell these stories."

What's next for Karen Read?

Read was asked what she learned through the process of working to earn an acquittal over the course of two trials.

"The details, the financial costs, the sweat equity, what these lawyers have to sacrifice, it's amazing anyone is acquitted. It really amazes me," she said. "They threw everything at me they could and didn't come close. I think the public needs to know they need to be more careful, they need to know their rights, they need to know not ever to speak to law enforcement, unfortunately. We can't cooperate the way we would think we need to, because god forbid if this goes south it will be used against you in a court of law, it will be manipulated against you in a court of law, it will be taken out of context in a court of law."

In the coming weeks, Read said she is launching a YouTube channel called "The Read Files."

"The worst is over. I am used to fighting now. If any party to this thinks this is inflicting pain on me, you don't understand what I've been through and what I've survived and what I can handle," she said. "And you don't understand what's going on and what more is about to be revealed. We were hamstrung, in our opinion badly, at trial. There's more evidence, and there's more of a story to tell. And it has to be done."