A woman who has been accused of being the “real Martha” from Netflix‘s Baby Reindeer claims she has received death threats as a result of the hit drama.
Created and starring Richard Gadd, the series brings his real-life experience of being stalked and sexually abused to screens, having previously told the story on stage in his acclaimed one-man show.
Gadd plays a fictionalised version of himself named Donny who is obsessively stalked by a woman named Martha after he befriends her in a pub. The show also sees Donny confront the trauma of being sexually assaulted by a TV executive named Darrien (played by Tom Goodman-Hill).
Since the show’s release and despite the pleas from Gadd and Gunning, fans have attempted to unearth the identity of the real people who inspired Baby Reindeer‘s characters.
Now, the woman who fans claim to have inspired Martha, has spoken out against the show and its portrayal of her, claiming she has been the subject of death threats as a result.
“I’m the victim here, not Richard Gadd,” the unnamed Scottish woman told the Daily Record. “I’ve had death threats as a result of his show despite the fact that a lot of the things he claimed are just not true.”
She also claimed that she has been surviving on “two hours sleep” a night due to the stress and worry caused by the alleged death threats.
The woman went on to say that she has not watched Baby Reindeer, but added: “I have seen various things.”
She continued: “I was in Richard Gadd’s company on occasions but I didn’t stalk him like he claims. His story is that this is a gross intrusion into my privacy. I haven’t seen him for 12 years.
“I read that he had written that show for the festival four or five years ago and I thought, ‘Oh my God’. This weekend I Googled and stories about Richard Gadd and Baby Reindeer were all over the place in flashing lights.”
The woman also criticised Gunning’s depiction of herself, telling the outlet that she doesn’t “think I look like that woman actress playing Martha”.
The “real” Martha’s response to the series comes just days after both Gadd and Gunning urged viewers not to try and work out the identities of the characters in the story.
Gadd wrote on his Instagram earlier this week: “People I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly caught up in speculation. Please don’t speculate on who any of the real-life people could be. That’s not the point of our show. Lots of love, Richard x X.”
Gunning shared the same sentiment in a recent interview with Glamour, saying: “I didn’t know that was happening. I would urge people not to be doing that. I think if that is happening, I think it’s a real, real shame, because it shows that they haven’t watched the show properly.
“That’s not the point of it in any way. Netflix and Richard [Gadd] went to extreme lengths to try and make sure that the identities were kept private for a reason.
“I think they should try and watch the show again, and really see what the point of it was – it definitely wasn’t that. I deliberately didn’t want to do an impersonation of somebody; I wanted to do an interpretation of this character.”
Elsewhere, some viewers of the series also believe they have spotted a hidden code hidden in Martha’s emails on the show, which appear to reference the show Lost.
NME has reached out to Netflix for comment on the Daily Record‘s interview.
