What Martha From Netflix's Baby Reindeer Looks Like In Real Life
Ever since the Netflix original miniseries "Baby Reindeer" hit the streaming service in April, it's been mired in some controversy ... and now, a woman who claims that she's the real-life inspiration behind the character Martha Scott, played by Jessica Dunning, is speaking out, in case you were curious about the "real Martha."
Fiona Harvey, who says that she briefly interacted with "Baby Reindeer" created Richard Gadd and ultimately inspired the show's unsettling storyline, spoke to television host Piers Morgan on his YouTube channel recently about how the series has affected her, and even said that thanks to fans trying to discover Martha's "real identity," she felt as if she had to speak to Morgan and take her story public. "The internet sleuths tracked me down and hounded me and gave me death threats," she told him. "So it wasn't really a choice."
Harvey's first argument against Gadd's story, which he has noted is based in reality, is that their meeting isn't portrayed accurately in the series — in which Gadd's autobiographical Donny Dunn gives Martha a free cup of tea at a pub. Before saying that the two met at the real pub Hawley Arms and that the establishment isn't in the habit of giving out free drinks, Harvey said that Gadd kept interrupting her conversation with another patron. "He seemed to be obsessed with me from that moment onwards," Harvey said. "I should never have gone in that bar."
The real-life Martha says she accidentally coined the name of the series
From there, Piers Morgan confronted Fiona Harvey about whether or not she left Richard Gadd an enormous number of voicemails, to which she responded, "I know that he doesn't [have 350 voice messages from me]. Unless he was taping me in the Hawley Arms. I didn't phone him." When Morgan asked if Harvey was challenging his potential evidence, she simply responded, "No, I would challenge him to leave me alone."
Still, Harvey did take a little bit of credit for naming the show — kind of. At the very end of "Baby Reindeer," the title, which is a reference that Martha bestows upon Donny, is explained. After Martha is incarcerated, Donny, chasing his own obsession with Martha, listens to one of her voicemails, where she refers to a stuffed reindeer toy that brought her comfort during a difficult childhood. "That bit is true.... It was a joke," Harvey said. "So I have inadvertently penned the name of the show."
Before Harvey speculated wildly on Gadd's relationship status and sexuality during their alleged "time together," she said that, unlike the on-screen Martha, she never attacked any of Gadd's partners (in the show, Martha violently assaults Donny's girlfriend Teri, played by Nava Mau). "He asked me to sleep with him," Harvey claimed. "I gave him the brush-off big-time, I think.... I don't fancy little boys without jobs."
Fiona Harvey, who claims she's the real Martha,
Ultimately, what Fiona Harvey said to Piers Morgan is that "Baby Reindeer" really isn't a true story. Not only does she deny sending him a ton of messages via email and voicemail — she says that all she sent was "a handful" of "jokey banter emails — she even went as far to say that she would take a lie detector test if anybody asked, claiming that she sometimes tells white lies but is not a liar overall.
"They have billed it as a true story; so has he. And it's not," Harvey told Morgan before delivering a message intended for Gadd, though it's public to everyone, obviously. "Leave me alone, please," Harvey said. "Get a life. Get a proper job. I am horrified at what you've done." She also said that she will be pursuing a lawsuit against Gadd, which she feels further bolsters her argument that she's telling the truth: "I wouldn't be suing if I thought there were 41,000 emails out there."
So what does Harvey have to say to Morgan and fans of "Baby Reindeer," in the end? "You need to make up your own mind, but my mind is made up," Harvey said before declaring of Gadd, "He's a liar."
Though "internet sleuths" have definitely tried to pin down Martha's real identity, Harvey is claiming she is the inspiration for the character, but she's not happy about it. If you want to see Jessica Dunning's performance, the series is streaming on Netflix now.