The Netflix series “Baby Reindeer” is taking viewers by storm – now the real woman is speaking out

In the Netflix series “Baby Reindeer”, which was released on 11 April, you meet bartender and would-be comedian “Donny”, played by the Scottish comedian Richard Gadd.

In the series, Donny meets a woman named “Martha” who quickly becomes obsessed with him. In fact, the whole series starts with Donny reporting this woman for “stalking”.

Gadd, who also created the series, has been clear that “Baby Reindeer” is based on his own experiences of being stalked and abused. It is also based on his one-man show about the same experience. On his website, he describes the show as how one single act of kindness leads to hundreds of messages and 40,000 emails.

The series has become a huge hit with viewers, but it has also led to people wanting to get to the bottom of who the character Martha is based on in reality – i.e. Gadd’s real stalker.

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They have managed that, but it hasn’t exactly been pleasant.

Watch video: This was not in the script

The “real Martha”: – I am the victim

In an interview with the Scottish newspaper Daily Record, “the real Martha” comes forward, albeit without a name and face, and says that she is the real victim.

The 58-year-old woman, who is supposed to be Scottish but lives in London, tells the newspaper that after the series came on Netflix and became so popular, she has received death threats and a lot of harassment.

She also lashes out at Gadd, who believes she is spreading lies and that the Netflix series is not truthful.

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– I was with Richard Gadd a couple of times, but I did not pursue him as he claims, she says to the Scottish newspaper.

In front of the Daily Mail, the woman goes further and claims that it is now Gadd who is stalking her and that he has a “protagonist complex”.

– He’s using Baby Reindeer to stalk me now. I am the victim. He has written a whole damn series about me, says the woman.

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Asked fans to stop speculating

In the series, the character Martha is played by Jessica Gunning. As fans began to speculate who it could be, both Gunning and Gadd came out and told fans to stop speculating.

– Please, stop speculating about who these people really are. That is not the point of our series, wrote Richard Gadd on Instagram last week, according to NTB.

Gadd, who is an ambassador for an organization that helps male victims of sexual abuse, explains that people close to him have been affected by all the speculation.

– Stalking on TV tends to be highly sexualised. But stalking is a mental illness. I really wanted to show the many layers of stalking and that with a humanity I have not seen on TV before, Gadd has previously stated to Tudum.