Richard Gaddâs real stalker, who was the inspiration for the comedianâs hit Netflix series Baby Reindeer, is considering legal action against him, according to The Daily Mail. The unnamed woman claimed to the outlet that Gadd didnât do enough to obscure her true identity in the show, leading to online âdeath threats and abuse from Richard Gadd supporters.â She accused him of âbullying an older woman on television for fame and fortune,â and said, âHeâs using Baby Reindeer to stalk me now. Iâm the victim. Heâs written a bloody show about me.â
Baby Reindeer is a fictionalized account of a real-life experience Gadd had, in which lending an older woman sympathetic kindness led to a complete disruption of his life. Gaddâs stalker reportedly sent him 41,071 emails, 46 Facebook messages, 744 tweets, and 106 pages of letters. The anonymous woman who spoke to The Daily Mail denied being a stalker, but observed many similarities between herself and the fictionalized version, a character named Martha. According to the outlet, âboth women are Scottish, both studied law at university, both are around 20 years older than Gadd and both use highly sexualised language in their speech and writing.â The headline about Marthaâs previous stalking conviction was similar to one about this anonymous woman, and she said that she had a similar exchange with him about moisturizer. The actor who played Martha âsort of looks like me after I put on four stone during lockdown but Iâm not actually unattractive,â the woman added.
(One difference she noted is that âIâve never owned a toy baby reindeer and I wouldnât have had any conversation with Richard Gadd about a childhood toy either.â)
In conversation with Variety, Gadd said his show was âemotionally 100% trueâ but that âyou canât do the exact truth, for both legal and artistic reasons.â He explained that âobviously, we were very aware that some characters in it are vulnerable people, so you donât want to make their lives more difficult. So you have to change things to protect yourself and protect other people.â
Despite Gaddâs attempt to make his characters less identifiable, fans have still done their own investigating. That includes attempting to hunt down another abuser of Gaddâs depicted in the show; some believed that the man who groomed and raped Gadd (a character called Darien OâConnor in the series) could have been theater director Sean Foley. However, Gadd posted on his Instagram story (via The Hollywood Reporter), âPeople I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly getting caught up in speculation. Please donât speculate on who any of the real life people could be. Thatâs not the point of our show.â
Gadd told Variety that his show was âemotionally 100% trueâ but that âyou canât do the exact truth, for both legal and artistic reasons.â He explained that âobviously, we were very aware that some characters in it are vulnerable people, so you donât want to make their lives more difficult. So you have to change things to protect yourself and protect other people.â
Baby Reindeer is empathetic to all its characters, including Martha, the stalker. Jessica Gunningâs performance âleaves you gasping with fear yet invokes a disconcerting sensitivity to Marthaâs plight,â The A.V. Clubâs Saloni Gajjar writes in her recommendation of the series. âIt makes us question why she didnât get the help she needed, and who she couldâve turned to and asked for it. So against all odds, why are we feeling bad for Martha, who is completely in the wrong here?â
âI felt like there was a vulnerable person who genuinely couldnât stop, who for whatever reason had believed the reality that was inside her head and no matter what couldnât change from that,â Gadd previously said of writing a character who, in real life, caused him harm. âI mean, it is a mental illness and I wanted to portray that. I did see someone who I felt sorry for.â
The writer told Variety that âdue to where things ended in real life, itâs not a concern for meâ that his actual stalker might get back in contact. However, that obviously doesnât include her speaking to the press independently. No matter how empathetically she may have been portrayed, she nevertheless accused Gadd of having âmain character syndrome.â She said, âHe always thinks heâs at the centre of things. Iâm 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.â