Richard Gadd’s mini-series Baby Reindeer has provoked a woman who claims that she is the real-life inspiration behind the subject in the show and is being portrayed as Gadd’s stalker. The project is based on the lead star’s true-to-life encounter with a woman who fell quite obsessed with him after he offered her a drink.
Fiona Harvey, the woman who came forward, is planning to sue Netflix after she claimed she has been defamed and that Gadd is basking in his newfound fortune and fame.
Fiona Harvey Comes Forward To Slam Richard Gadd And Netflix
Baby Reindeer showed how Jessica Gunning’s Martha, the alleged stalker, sent Richard Gadd “41,000 emails, 744 tweets, 100 pages of letters and 350 hours of voicemails over a four-year reign of terror,” as per The Sun. Fiona Harvey, on the other hand, claimed that she is a lawyer and she will file a case against Netflix.
“I have a claim against Netflix as this is being billed as part of a true story. I’m a highly competent lawyer. I’d have to do it myself. I’m very good. I have a photographic memory and can memorise huge files. I was top in my school at everything.”
Harvey also declared that she is not as ugly as how the character was being portrayed in the television. She also slammed the mini-series and called it a show for the youngsters.
“I am very attractive. He’s not Brad Pitt. There’s a fat actress that’s supposed to be me. He’s come up with this character called Martha, and he has put me right in the frame. This is a programme for the 20-somethings. The people with no lives, no jobs, whatever. I don’t want to be a celebrity.”
In a post from the Daily Mail, Harvey said that she is the victim of bullying here and even pleaded with Gadd to leave her be.
“He’s using Baby Reindeer to stalk me now. I’m the victim. He’s written a bloody show about me… bullying an older woman on television for fame and fortune. Richard Gadd has got ‘main character syndrome’. He always thinks he’s at the centre of things. Gadd should leave me alone.”
Harvey, the supposed real-life Martha, is a 58-year-old woman living alone in a flat in central London. She said she survives with a food budget of £30 a week.
Richard Gadd Claims Baby Reindeer Is 100% Emotionally True
Meanwhile, Gadd defended himself and his Netflix show, claiming via Variety that what he put out there was his life story, though he cannot use real people’s identities on television so there’s a high chance of coincidences.
“It’s all borrowed from instances that happened to me and real people that I met. But of course, you can’t do the exact truth, for both legal and artistic reasons. I mean, there’s certain protections, you can’t just copy somebody else’s life and name and put it onto television.”
Gadd believes in the authenticity of Baby Reindeer and how it mirrors our present society and culture. Fans can watch all seven episodes on Netflix.
