A woman who claims the stalker character Martha in “Baby Reindeer” was modeled after her has sued Netflix, alleging that the popular series was defamatory and has had a detrimental impact on her life since its release.
Set in 2015, “Baby Reindeer” portrays the “true story” of its writer and creator Richard Gadd, who also plays the lead role of Donny Dunn, a struggling comedian and daytime bartender. While working at a London pub, Dunn encounters a troubled woman named Martha, played by Jessica Gunning, who becomes his obsessive stalker, engaging in various harmful behaviors towards him before being arrested and imprisoned in the series.
Despite claims by the creators that the character was not directly based on any real person, Fiona Harvey insists that her reputation has been wrongly linked to the Martha character, portraying her as a perpetrator of crimes and violence that she never committed.
In her lawsuit filed in federal court, Harvey challenges the portrayal of her through Martha in “Baby Reindeer” as a series of defamatory falsehoods, including criminal convictions, sexual assaults, and stalking incidents. She highlights the show’s claim of being a “true story” as a deliberate falsehood aimed at sensationalizing her life.
Harvey argues that her identification with Martha was facilitated by specific lines and similarities between the character and herself, leading to public scrutiny and psychological distress. She seeks substantial damages for defamation, emotional distress, negligence, and violations of her privacy rights.
Netflix has pledged to vigorously defend the lawsuit, affirming Gadd’s right to tell his story. Despite the show’s commercial success, both Gadd and Gunning have emphasized that the characters in “Baby Reindeer” are fictional and not based on real-life individuals.
