The Netflix series Baby Reindeer has been a massive success for the streaming platform. Despite its disturbing subject matter, viewers are quite intrigued by the story which is based on real-life experiences from star and creator, comedian Richard Gadd. Now, however, the real-life alleged stalker that Richard Gadd used as inspiration for the Baby Reindeer series is considering a lawsuit.
Gadd claims to have “received 41,071 emails, 744 tweets, letters totalling 106 pages and 350 hours of voicemail messages from the older woman,” as shared by Daily Mail. The unnamed woman was believed to be unidentifiable by Gadd, who went to extreme measures to keep her anonymous during the creation of the show.
However, that hasn’t stopped some viewers from finding the source of inspiration for Martha – the stalker in the series played by Jessica Gunning. As such, the real-life woman claims to have received “death threats and abuse from Richard Gadd supporters.” She continues:
“He’s using Baby Reindeer to stalk me now,” she claims, “I’m the victim. He’s written a bloody show about me.”
The publication does indicate some major similarities between her and the character in the streaming exclusive, all despite Gadd’s attempt to keep them separated:
“Both women are Scottish, both studied law at university, both are around 20 years older than Gadd and both use highly sexualised language in their speech and writing.”
Additionally, there is a physical resemblance between the two, with the unnamed woman having the following to say about the actress that portrays Martha:
“She sort of looks like me after I put on four stone during lockdown but I’m not actually unattractive.”
Though it’s not all alike. In fact, she claims to never have owned anything akin to the titular “Baby Reindeer” toy that’s such a centerpiece for the show:
“I’ve never owned a toy baby reindeer and I wouldn’t have had any conversation with Richard Gadd about a child hood toy either.”
She also denies having stalked Gadd:
“Richard Gadd has got ‘main character syndrome,'” she asserts. “He always thinks he’s at the centre of things. I’m not writing shows about him or promoting them in the media, am I? If he wanted me to be properly anonymous, he could have done so. Gadd should leave me alone.”
As a result, the publication adds that “she is considering taking legal action against him” with a lawsuit following the outcome of the Baby Reindeer series. As such, with the show continuing to grow in popularity, we’ll have to see what happens next. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates as we have them.