‘Real Martha’ Sues Netflix For ‘Baby Reindeer’—Here’s What Led To The $170 Million Suit

Fiona Harvey, the Scottish lady who says the character Martha in Netflix’s sequence Child Reindeer is predicated on her, has filed a lawsuit in opposition to Netflix in search of at the very least $170 million in damages.

Netflix and Richard Gadd assured the general public they modified key details about Martha for the present, however their finest efforts to hide her id have seemingly backfired. So, what occurred between Harvey, Richard Gadd and Netflix, and the way did it attain this important level?

Netflix Releases Child Reindeer In April 2024

In April, Netflix dropped the restricted sequence Child Reindeer. Within the sequence, Gadd stars as a fictionalized model of himself named Donny Dunn, a struggling comic and bartender who’s being stalked by a lady named Martha. The pair met after Donny served the lonely lady a free cup of tea on the bar the place he labored.

The present is predicated on a Gadd’s real-life expertise with a stalker in his 20s. The actor claimed that the lady despatched him 41,071 emails, 350 hours’ value of voicemails, 744 tweets, 46 Fb messages, 106 pages of letters, and a wide range of bizarre presents, together with a reindeer toy, sleeping drugs, a woolly hat, and boxer shorts.

She additionally allegedly stalked Gadd outdoors of his house, office, and on stage in comedy golf equipment — even going so far as harassing his family members, together with his dad and mom and a trans lady he began relationship.

ForbesThe Loopy True Story Behind Netflix’s ‘Child Reindeer’-The ‘Actual’ Martha Speaks OutBy Monica Mercuri

“At first everybody on the pub thought it was humorous that I had an admirer,” Gadd revealed to UK’s The Occasions. “Then she began to invade my life, following me, turning up at my gigs, ready outdoors my home, sending hundreds of voicemails and emails.”

To guard the true Martha’s id, Gadd informed GQ in April that he and Netflix went “to such lengths to disguise her that I doubt she would acknowledge herself within the present.” Netflix Coverage Chief Benjamin King even informed a UK Parliament final month that the streamer and producer Clerkenwell Movies had taken “each affordable precaution in disguising the real-life identities of the folks concerned in that story.”

Web Customers Strive To Discover Martha On Social Media And Discover Fiona Harvey’s Twitter Account

Nonetheless, all of their finest efforts to cover Martha’s id unraveled when web sleuths started trying to find clues. Shortly, social media customers found Harvey’s Twitter account, which confirmed that she despatched a number of tweets to Gadd in 2014, one in all which was allegedly featured within the present.

Whereas this was taking place, Gadd and Jessica Gunning (who portrays Martha on Child Reindeer), urged the general public to cease making an attempt to uncover Martha’s id. “Please do not speculate on who any of the true life folks may very well be. That is not the purpose of our present,” Gadd stated in a now-expired Instagram story.

Gunning additionally informed BBC Scotland’s The Edit that the hypothesis round Martha was “fairly unhappy” and “not the purpose of the present in any respect.” She continued, “When you just like the present and you’re a fan of it, you need to stick to the story of Martha and Donny being what connects you, not making an attempt to do any detective work and discover out any actual identities.”

The actress added that Netflix went to “nice lengths” to hide the identities of these concerned. “Richard has achieved an incredible job of not making the story so black and white, so there’s no goody or baddy or villain or sufferer, actually,” she stated. “They’re simply difficult folks like people are.”

The ‘Actual Martha’ Begins Speaking To The Press

However the hypothesis surrounding Harvey’s reference to Martha didn’t cease. In actual fact, it grew stronger after a lady claiming to be Gadd’s stalker anonymously informed the Day by day Mail that she was contemplating authorized motion in opposition to him.

She insisted that now, Gadd was the one who was obsessed along with her. “He’s utilizing Child Reindeer to stalk me now,” she stated. “I’m the sufferer. He’s written a bloody present about me.”

The girl informed the tabloid that Gadd’s script amounted to “bullying an older lady on tv for fame and fortune” and that she had obtained on-line “demise threats and abuse from Richard Gadd supporters.”

Harvey then went on Piers Morgan Uncensored in Might and shared that she was contemplating taking authorized motion in opposition to Gadd and Netflix. She additionally denied sending Gadd 41,000 emails and informed Morgan that Child Reindeer is “a piece of hyperbole.”

Fiona Harvey Recordsdata A Lawsuit Towards Netflix After Teasing Her Intentions To Do So

On June 6, Harvey filed a lawsuit suing the streaming web site, alleging defamation, intentional infliction of emotional misery, negligence and violations of her proper of publicity. The swimsuit was filed within the U.S. District Courtroom for the Central District of California.

“The lies that Defendants informed about Harvey to over 50 million folks worldwide embody that Harvey is a twice-convicted stalker who was sentenced to 5 years in jail, and that Harvey sexually assaulted Gadd,” the grievance reads. “Defendants informed these lies, and by no means stopped, as a result of it was a greater story than the reality, and higher tales made cash.”

The lawsuit continues, “On account of Defendants’ lies, malfeasance and completely reckless misconduct, Harvey’s life had been ruined. Merely, Netflix and Gadd destroyed her fame, her character and her life.”

Whereas the primary episode of Child Reindeer opens with “it is a true story,” Harvey’s swimsuit alleges that line “is the largest lie in tv historical past.”

“It’s a lie informed by Netflix and the present’s creator, Richard Gadd, out of greed and lust for fame; a lie designed to draw extra viewers, get extra consideration, to earn more money, and to viciously destroy the lifetime of Plaintiff, Fiona Harvey — an harmless lady defamed by Netflix and Richard Gadd at a magnitude and scale with out precedent,” the grievance continues.

ForbesRichard Gadd And Netflix Tried To Disguise Martha’s Id On ‘Child Reindeer’-However It Did not WorkBy Monica Mercuri

Harvey earned a Diploma of Bachelor of Legal guidelines from the College of Aberdeen in 1990, a diploma in Authorized Follow from the College of Strathclyde in 1993 and was granted an Entrance Certificates to the Regulation Society of Scotland in 1997. In 2005, Harvey earned her Graduate Diploma in Regulation (CPE) from the College of Westminster, based on the lawsuit.

Harvey is now in search of greater than $170 million from Netflix, together with at the very least $50 million for precise damages, at the very least $50 million in compensatory damages for “psychological anguish, lack of enjoyment of life and lack of enterprise,” at the very least $50 million “for all income from ‘Child Reindeer,’” and at the very least $20 million in punitive damages, per Selection.

In a latest assertion to Sky Information, a Netflix spokesperson wrote, “We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to face by Richard Gadd’s proper to inform his story.

Child Reindeer is streaming on Netflix. Watch the official trailer beneath.