Highlights

• Baby Reindeer's real Martha, Fiona Harvey disputes portrayal in Netflix show, denies being a stalker, and plans to sue Richard Gadd and Netflix for defamation.
• Internet sleuths discovered real-life Martha Scott's identity, despite Gadd's efforts to disguise her, leading to backlash and threats.
• Fiona Harvey was never charged with a crime like in Baby Reindeer, sparking concerns about how well real identities were protected by Netflix.

The real-life Martha Scott, played in the Netflix hit series Baby Reindeer by Jessica Gunning, has come forward to tell her side of the story. The Scottish lawyer has called the show, written by Richard Gadd, an “obscene” and “derogatory” work of fiction.

She sat down for an interview with Piers Morgan and claimed she had been “forced” into telling her side of the story after internet sleuths uncovered her identity.

Baby Reindeer was based on comedian Richard Gadd's real experience of the suffering he went through at the hands of an alleged stalker over six years. Although he changed the names and details, fans were quick to uncover the real-life Martha Scott.

Before the interview with the British journalist, Netflix said it took “every reasonable precaution” to protect the characters' real identities in the popular drama. It has left critics questioning how well the show covered the identities of the real-life versions of the characters.

In this article, we reveal how Fiona Harvey claims Richard Gadd was actually stalking her in real life, not the other way around. We also discuss how the internet uncovered the real Martha and why Fiona Harvey plans to sue Netflix.

Baby Reindeer's Real Life Martha Scott, Fiona Harvey, Claims Richard Gadd Was Stalking Her

The 58-year-old lawyer Fiona Harvey claimed she had only met the Scottish stand-up a few times and asked him to “leave her alone” as he was stalking her!

The real-life woman who inspired Baby Reindeer's Martha, denied many of the scenes depicted on the show were accurate. She denied the scene where she is depicted as sexually assaulting Richard Gadd and attacking his partner. She proclaimed, "I'm not a stalker," and denied visiting his parents or heckling him on stage.

"I'm not a stalker."

During the interview, which has been called "unethical" by many, Fiona Harvey denied sending Richard Gadd 41,000 emails and 100 letters while stalking him. Netflix has previously claimed that the emails in the show were the real emails Gadd received from his stalker.

“I think he probably made them up himself,” Harvey alleged, instead suggesting she sent him just “a handful”. When Piers Morgan pressed about the number of messages she sent the comedian, she declared it was “less than ten emails”.

In a previous Daily Mail interview, Fiona Harvey called Gadd’s script “bullying an older woman on television for fame and fortune” and that she had received online “death threats and abuse from Richard Gadd supporters.”

She also told the outlet that she “never owned a toy baby reindeer and I wouldn't have had any conversation with Richard Gadd about a childhood toy either," although this fact changed when speaking to Pier Morgan, where she claims she did own a reindeer as a child.

In a previous interview, Fiona was upset with the casting of Jessica Gunning

“I am very attractive. He’s not Brad Pitt. There’s a fat actress that’s supposed to be me."

She added in a tirade against the show: “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 the show, the leader character Donny, played by Gadd, meets Martha when she enters the pub he is working at. He says he feels sorry for her and offers her a cup of tea out of kindness. Harvey revealed to Morgan that she did visit the London establishment, but she never thought he pitied her.

When asked whether she had seen the show, she said she had not. "I’ve heard about the court scene, about the jail sentences and all this sort of stuff… I haven’t watched any of it.”

Asked if she had a message for Richard Gadd, she told the controversial British host: “Leave me alone, please. Get a life, get a proper job. I am horrified at what you’ve done.”

Fiona Harvey Plans To Sue Netflix

Fiona Harvey, the real-life Martha Scott, has accused Netflix and Scottish comedian Richard Gadd, who wrote and appeared in the show, of "lying" in their "defamatory" depiction.

"They have billed it as a true story, and so has he, and it's not... He is lying and they are lying."

Harvey told Piers Morgan Uncensored, that, “I will be taking legal action against Richard Gadd and Netflix. We have instructed lawyers in part, but we want to explore all of the options out there. There are a number of people to sue.”

"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."

At the end of the Baby Reindeer, Martha is seen pleading guilty to stalking Donny and is sentenced to nine months in jail. In reality, Fiona Harvey was never charged with an offense. She believes that the final episode of the Netflix series is "very, very defamatory to me, very career damaging," she said.

How Internet Sleuths Identified Baby Reindeer's Real Martha Scott

Viewers of Baby Reindeer quickly took to the internet to try to speculate who the real people the show's characters were based on.

Richard Gadd never revealed the real-life identity of Martha and asked that others do the same. The Scottish writer/comedian quickly posted a message to his Instagram story, urging people not to speculate, "That's not the point of our show," he wrote.

Gadd has previously told GQ that the team had "gone to such great lengths to disguise [Martha] to the point that I don't think she would recognise herself".

Internet sleuths took to social media and found clues that revealed Martha's real identity, including references to a Baby Reindeer bar scene and social media accounts allegedly connected to the lawyer. Baby Reindeer allegedly used real tweets from Fiona Harvey in the show, that eventually led the internet to her real identity. The real life Martha soon came out and announced her identity, taking a fee of £250 to speak to Morgan.

Netflix policy chief Benjamin King told UK lawmakers at a parliament hearing focused on British film and television that the streamer took "every reasonable precaution" to disguise the identities of the people who inspired Gadd's work but admit it's "very difficult to control what viewers do, particularly in a world where everything is amplified by social media."

Fiona Harvey has admitted that the treatment online by fans of the show has "taken over" her life.

“I find it quite obscene. I find it horrifying, misogynistic. Some of the death threats have been really terrible online. People phoning me up. You know, it’s been absolutely horrendous.”