Richard Gadd, the man whose repeated run-ins with a stalker inspired his Netflix hit Baby Reindeer, says he’s willing to testify in defense of Netflix in a lawsuit filed by Fiona Harvey.
Harvey claims the show’s Martha character was based on her, and that the depiction of the stalker character in the show was exaggerated and has “ruined her life.”
Netflix is attempting to get the suit dismissed, and Gadd has issued a declaration in support of that attempt.
Gadd’s document says that the show, in which he plays Donny, isn’t a documentary, and while it is fictionalized, it is “emotionally true.”
Gadd insists, “My personal struggles with my sexual identity, and experiences with sexual abuse, harassment, and stalking, inspired me to write and star in the theatre version of Baby Reindeer, and subsequently, the [Netflix] Series.”
The performer details his history with Harvey, from a chance meeting at the pub in which he worked to her allegedly stalking him over two years.
Gadd says Harvey sent him “thousands of emails, hundreds of voicemails, and a number of handwritten letters” that “often included sexually explicit, violent, and derogatory content, hateful speech, and threats.”
He even attached “a fraction” of those to his declaration as proof.
He also insists, “I never intended the Series to identify any real person as Martha Scott,” including Harvey, claiming that she was the one who outed herself.
Referring to a recent Piers Morgan Uncensored appearance Harvey made, Gadd said, “[S]he claimed that she was the inspiration for the Martha character, and that she never sent me thousands of emails nor left me any voicemails.”
He insists, “She harassed and stalked me over several years, and … other individuals have contacted me … and said they were also harassed by Harvey, but all were too scared of her to come forward.”
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