Jessica Gunning as Martha in “Baby Reindeer” Ed Miller/Netflix
Baby Reindeer is Netflix’s No. 1 show at the moment, but the woman who allegedly inspired the series is not happy about its success.
In a recent interview with the Daily Mail, the woman — whose name was not given — said that she is considering legal action against Richard Gadd, who created and stars in the Netflix series.
“He’s using Baby Reindeer to stalk me now,” the woman claimed. “I’m the victim. He’s written a bloody show about me.”
Based on Gadd’s one-man stage show of the same name, Baby Reindeer follows a struggling comedian named Donny Dunn (Gadd) as he interacts with Martha Scott (Jessica Gunning), a former lawyer who begins stalking him. The series was inspired by Gadd’s own experience of allegedly being stalked and sexually assaulted in his 20s.
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Gadd, now 34, has asked fans of the TV show to stop trying to find the real person that inspired Gunning’s character, but not everyone has listened. The woman told the Daily Mail that she has been the target of “death threats and abuse from Richard Gadd supporters” since the series premiered earlier this month.
While Gadd claims to have changed identifying details about his real-life stalker, the woman who spoke to the Daily Mail claims that his script amounts to “bullying an older woman on television for fame and fortune.”
Richard Gadd as Donny and Jessica Gunning as Martha in “Baby Reindeer” Ed Miller/Netflix
The woman also took issue with the title Baby Reindeer, which comes from a pet name Martha uses for Donny in the series. Martha tells Donny that he reminds her of a baby reindeer toy she had as a child because of his “big lips, huge eyes and the cutest wee bum.”
“I’ve never owned a toy baby reindeer and I wouldn’t have had any conversation with Richard Gadd about a childhood toy either,” the woman told the Daily Mail. “Richard Gadd has got ‘main character syndrome.’ He always thinks he’s at the center 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.”
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Baby Reindeer fans have also tried to identify the real person who raped Gadd. In the show, the character is named Darrien O’Connor and played by the actor Tom Goodman-Hill. After misguided internet sleuths incorrectly pointed to theater director Sean Foley as the inspiration for Darrien, Gadd asked viewers to stop their investigations.
“People I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly getting caught up in speculation,” Gadd wrote via his Instagram Story earlier this month. “Please don’t speculate on who any of the real life people could be. That’s not the point of our show.”
