The “real” Martha from Baby Reindeer has said she is going to sue Netflix and creator-turned-star Richard Gadd over her “defamatory” depiction.
Fiona Harvey outed herself as the inspiration for Martha and said she has been “forced” into telling her side of the story after receiving death threats from “internet sleuths” following the release of the Netflix show.
In the drama inspired by the real-life experiences of comedian and writer Gadd, his character Donny is stalked by a woman named Martha after he gives her a free cup of tea in the pub where he works.
On Piers Morgan Uncensored, Ms Harvey denied stalking Gadd in real life, describing the show as “a work of fiction”. In a tense interview with Morgan, the 58-year-old claimed that she was prepared to go to a court of law to defend herself against allegations made in the series.
When Morgan asked if she will “categorically be taking legal action”, she replied: “Absolutely, against both him (Gadd) and Netflix.” Ms Harvey said she had instructed lawyers in part, but “we want to explore all the options out there, there are a number of people to sue”.
During the interview, Ms Harvey made reference to a scene in the show where Martha admits to intimidating Gadd’s character and receives a nine-month prison sentence. “That is completely untrue, very, very defamatory to me, very career damaging,” she said. “I wanted to rebut that completely on this show — I am not a stalker, I have not been to jail, I’ve not got injunctions — it is complete nonsense.”
In the interview, Ms Harvey denied sending Gadd 41,000 emails and 100 letters. Netflix has previously claimed that the emails in the show are the real emails received by Gadd from his stalker. Pressed by Morgan for a number, Ms Harvey suggested she sent him “less than 10 emails”.
She claimed she had met Gadd “two or three times” and did admit to coming up with the nickname that inspired the series. “I had a toy reindeer and he’d shaved his head, that bit is true, and there were reindeers in the shops because it was Christmas time or something. It was a joke. So I have inadvertently penned the name of the show.”
Asked if she had watched the drama, she replied: “Not at all. I’ve heard about the court scene, about the jail sentences and all this sort of stuff… I haven’t watched any of it.”
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Some viewers questioned the ethics of Morgan’s decision to interview Ms Harvey after Gadd said that the person who inspired Martha was “mentally unwell”. Representatives for Gadd and Netflix have been contacted for comment.
