The woman accused of being the real-life Martha Scott, the stalker depicted in Netflix’s sensation Baby Reindeer, has decried harrassment from fans insisting that she is the victim.
Baby Reindeer writer, Richard Gadd based the show on his own experiences of being harassed by her thereby putting the woman in the spotlight.
The real life events depicted in Baby Reindeer date back a decade to when Gadd was on the UK comedy scene with shows like Breaking Gadd, Waiting for Gaddot and Monkey See Monkey Do.
An obsessive fan began to hound the comedian after he innocently offered her a free cup of tea while working (a gripping scene early on in the Netflix version).
This led to a relentless harassment campaign that he said “at its peak. was almost unbearable”.
Gadd turned his trauma into a comedy show and later a hit Netflix series, which was released this month.
He has called for viewers not to focus on working out the real-life inspirations for the show’s characters but, of course, given the size of the Netflix audience, many Baby Reindeer fans began looking and have reportedly managed to unmask the real-life Martha.
The woman, who lives in London, claimed she received death threats as a result of his show and claims the Netflix series “is a gross intrusion into my privacy”.
She added: “I don’t want people to know where I live but I will not be silenced.
“I’m the victim here, not Richard Gadd. 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,
“Someone online said ‘If I find you I will kill you.
“ A guy in North Carolina said that he and other people were going to stalk me like I am supposed to have stalked Gadd.”
Similarly, fans of Gadd mistakenly identified someone as the comedian’s sexual abuser (another key plotline of Baby Reindeer), resulting in a flood of online harassment and threats.
The police had launched an investigation after the accused man reported receiving threatening messages on social media.
Gadd has urged the public to refrain from attempting to identify the actual people behind the characters in the show. Netflix has remained silent on the issue.
But the real-life Martha goes on to call writer and creator Gadd “a nightmare” and declare that she wants to “get on with the rest of my life”.
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