Weeks after publicizing her intent to sue those behind Netflix’s runaway hit Baby Reindeer, a Scottish lawyer named Fiona Harvey—who has identified herself as the woman on whom the character of twice-convicted stalker Martha is based—is making good on that promise.
Harvey seeks $170 million from Netflix, alleging defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and violations of her right of publicity. Her suit was filed Thursday in California. Noting that the series begins with the phrase “this is a true story,” the suit claims this statement “is the biggest lie in television history. It is a lie told by Netflix and the show’s creator, Richard Gadd, out of greed and lust for fame; a lie designed to attract more viewers, get more attention, to make more money, and to viciously destroy the life of Plaintiff, Fiona Harvey—an innocent woman defamed by Netflix and Richard Gadd at a magnitude and scale without precedent.”
In Gadd’s series, which is based on his real-life experiences with a stalker, Martha (played by Jessica Gunning) sexually assaults his character, Donny Dunn, and is later sent to prison for stalking him. Harvey’s filing contains documents which appear to show that she has no criminal convictions in her past. “Harvey has never had any sexual encounter with Gadd,” the lawsuit says. “The claim that Harvey sexually assaulted Gadd is a lie.”
Since Baby Reindeer’s release, Gadd, who is not named as a defendant in the suit, has urged viewers to stop searching for the real-life people behind his characters, also telling Vanity Fair, “I think it does a disservice to the art. I’ve spoken out publicly against it and said that I wanted to stop. I think that did have an impact.” In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, a rep for Netflix said, “We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story.” VF has reached out to both the streamer and Gadd for additional comment.
Harvey, who is seeking a jury trial in California federal court, claims in her suit that Donny and Martha’s use of the phrase “hang my curtains” as a euphemism for sex in the show led droves of fans to suspect her of inspiring the character. According to the complaint, amateur sleuths uncovered a 2014 tweet by @FionaHarvey2014 that tagged @MrRichardGadd and read, “my curtains need hung badly.” The suit alleges, “As a result of Defendants’ lies, malfeasance and utterly reckless misconduct, Harvey’s life had been ruined. Simply, Netflix and Gadd destroyed her reputation, her character and her life.”
Netflix’s UK policy chief Benjamin King previously stated that the streamer and producers took “every reasonable precaution in disguising the real-life identities of the people involved in that story.” Earlier this week, the streamer settled another defamation lawsuit brought by former New York City prosecutor Linda Fairstein over her portrayal in Ava DuVernay’s Emmy-winning limited series When They See Us.
When previously asked by Vanity Fair if he’d do anything differently in his creation of Baby Reindeer if he had the chance to do it all over, Gadd said, “I can’t police the internet, and no matter what I would’ve done, you just don’t know how people are going to react to things. You can never predict the future. You can’t second-guess yourself, or spend the creative process second-guessing yourself.”
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