The Real Martha From Baby Reindeer Sues Netflix. Will She Win the Case?

In Baby Reindeer, Richard Gadd told us his overwhelming stalker story, where his stalker went to incredible lengths while obsessing over him and his life. The series became a huge hit as soon as it was released on Netflix. The stalker in the show is named Martha Scott, and she represents the actual person who stalked Gadd in his twenties. As soon as people learned that Baby Reindeer was based on real events, they started investigating and looking for the real stalker.

The whole situation escalated when a Scottish woman became the main suspect for Gadd's stalker. The woman, named Fiona Harvey, came forward demanding compensation from Netflix for all the emotional trauma she had experienced. Find out all the details about the lawsuit below!

It all began after fans discovered Fiona Harvey's social media accounts and found many similarities between her posts and Martha's character. Although Richard Gadd and Netflix's team never revealed Fiona as the real Martha, fans quickly put the pieces together. The resemblance between Baby Reindeer's Martha and Fiona was too strong to deny, both based on her appearance and her personality and character. Not to mention, Fiona Harvey had posted about Richard Gadd years ago, which was supposedly the time Gadd experienced his stalking issue. After putting all this together, fans started bullying Fiona extensively.

This made the Scottish woman go public and appear on Piers Morgan's show to speak her truth. During the interview, Fiona confirmed knowing Richard Gadd but denied all the stalking accusations against her that were made both in the show and in real life. It was also at that time that Fiona told Piers Morgan she would be suing both Richard Gadd and Netflix for making up all those lies and painting her as a crazy convicted criminal.

Not long after that, it was announced that Fiona Harvey is, in fact, suing Netflix for $170 million, calling Baby Reindeer "the biggest lie in television history." The lawsuit has been filed in California, where Netflix headquarters are located. The amount of $170 million is said to be the sum of the total profits made from Baby Reindeer as well as her "loss of business." Fiona Harvey is blaming Netflix for all the emotional distress she has experienced and her violated rights to privacy.

Even though Richard Gadd's story seems to be truthful to some extent, Netflix made the devastating decision to categorize Baby Reindeer as a "true story." Not an inspiration, not a show based on true events, but a true story, which could as well be labeled as a documentary. After using that terminology, all viewers were convinced that what they were watching did in fact happen in real life.

Baby Reindeer delves into some very dark themes and events, some of which include Martha terrorizing Gadd's family, assaulting his girlfriend, and ending with her going to jail. However, Fiona's legal team conducted an investigation and proved that she never went to prison. This means that Netflix's show is, in fact, lying to an unknown extent about Gadd's stalking experience. After receiving the lawsuit, Netflix issued the following statement.

"We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story"

No matter if you sympathize with Richard Gadd or if Fiona Harvey does turn out to have done some of the things from the show, it is wrong to accuse someone falsely. Baby Reindeer portrayed her as a convicted criminal, and that's how she is seen in society now. After watching Piers Morgan's interview with her, most of us can agree that Harvey did lie on multiple occasions. However, Netflix completely tore her apart and practically ruined her life with the extent of their accusations. How this lawsuit turns out might really affect the television industry from now on. We are all eagerly waiting to see the outcome.