Woman who inspired Martha in "Baby Reindeer" calls series "fiction" in YouTube interview
The real-life equivalent of Martha in "Baby Reindeer" has denied many of the events depicted in the Netflix series.
Recently, a woman named Fiona Harvey, who allegedly inspired the character Martha in Richard Gadd's hit series based on her personal experience with a stalker, came forward and gave her first on-camera interview on May 9. Harvey appeared on an episode of Piers Morgan's YouTube show, Piers Morgan Uncensored, and claimed that she intends to take legal action against both the streaming giant and Gad.
"It's a work of fiction (and hyperbole)," a Scottish lawyer said of the show, calling it "obscene" and "horrific."
Speaking to Morgan, Harvey added that he had not seen all of "Baby Reindeer," but had heard more about the series from friends and reporters.
In Uncensored, Harvey claimed that she met Gad when she was a bartender at the Hawley Arms pub in Camden. She acknowledged that some details of the series were accurate, such as the nickname "baby reindeer" and the insinuation "hang the curtains," but denied much of the stalking and physical attacks contained in the series.
She also claimed that, like Martha on screen, she had never been in jail or convicted of stalking.
After initially denying that she had sent Gad any emails (he claimed to have received 40,000 emails in the fictional series), after additional questioning by Morgan, Harvey stated that she had sent "a handful."
While announcing the interview in a May 8 social media post, the British TV personality shared a photo taken with Harvey from her "Uncensored" studio, claiming that she wanted to "speak my mind" and "set the record straight."
Harvey's first television appearance came after she previously gave an anonymous interview to the Daily Mail in which she said she was considering taking legal action against Gad and Netflix, and later in an early May interview with the UK's Daily Record newspaper, in which she allegedly became the real Martha This came about after she publicly revealed that she was allegedly the real Martha.
Her public statements also followed her becoming the subject of social media speculation about whether she was the real-life equivalent of Martha shortly after the Netflix series debuted on April 11.
In Baby Reindeer, written by and starring Gad as the fictional Donnie Dunn, a Scottish comedian examines how he was stalked by a woman who sent him thousands of emails and 350 hours of voice mail over a four-year period. Actress Jessica Gunning plays that woman, who changed her name to Martha.
Since the release of the seven-episode miniseries, the film has become a sleeper hit on Netflix to critical acclaim. As more viewers tuned into the series, some fans began to speculate about the identity of Martha and the character Darien, the man who sexually assaults Donnie (played by Tom Goodman-Hill in the series).
Gad had previously said in an interview that he went to "great lengths" to conceal the identity of the woman who inspired Martha, but he was quick to dismiss viewer speculation.
"That is not the point of our show," he wrote in an overdue statement he shared on Instagram Stories, according to Deadline.
Gunning also said that "Netflix and Richard didn't really want viewers to try to find out who was really behind the series."
In an interview with Dazed, she said, "I think it's really sad if that's happening because they're obviously not watching the show the right way and not understanding the message of the show."
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