Baby Reindeer: woman who claims to be real-life Martha sues Netflix for $170m

The woman who identified herself as the inspiration behind the character Martha Scott in the Netflix hit drama series Baby Reindeer has filed a $170m lawsuit against the streaming giant.

In a lawsuit filed on Thursday in the US district court for the central district of California, Fiona Harvey accused Netflix of defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, gross negligence and violations of her right of publicity.

It follows the phenomenal success of the series released this year, starring 35-year-old Richard Gadd, a Scottish writer and actor who created the show based on his own experiences of being allegedly stalked.

Harvey has publicly identified herself as the inspiration behind the series but denied being a stalker, as well as claims that she sent Gadd 41,000 emails, hundreds of voice messages and 106 letters.

Speaking in a recent interview with Piers Morgan, Harvey said: “I don’t think I sent him anything. There may have been a couple of emails, jokey banter, but that is it.”

The lawsuit, which names Netflix as a defendant, states: “The lies that Defendants told about Harvey to over 50 million people worldwide include that Harvey is a twice convicted stalker who was sentenced to five years in prison, and that Harvey sexually assaulted Gadd. Defendants told these lies, and never stopped, because it was a better story than the truth, and better stories made money.”

It went on to add: “Netflix, a multi-national billion dollar entertainment streaming company did literally nothing to confirm the ‘true story’ that Gadd told. That is, it never investigated whether Harvey was convicted, a very serious misrepresentation of the facts. It did nothing to understand the relationship between Gadd and Harvey, if any … As a result of Defendants’ lies, malfeasance and utterly reckless misconduct, Harvey’s life had been ruined. Simply, Netflix and Gadd destroyed her reputation, her character and her life.”

Harvey is seeking at least $50m for actual damages, at least $50m in compensatory damages for “mental anguish, loss of enjoyment and loss of business”, at least $50m for “all profits from ‘Baby Reindeer’”, as well as $20m for punitive damages.

A Netflix spokesperson told the Guardian: “We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story.”

In an interview with the Guardian in April, Gadd spoke of the series, saying that he “tweaked slightly to create dramatic climaxes”.

“It’s very emotionally true, obviously: I was severely stalked and severely abused. But we wanted it to exist in the sphere of art, as well as protect the people it’s based on,” he said.

This week, Baby Reindeer was a major winner at the Gotham TV awards in New York City and is expected to be a frontrunner when Emmy nominations are announced in July. The series has found over 60 million viewers in its first month on the platform and is expected to become one of Netflix’s 10 biggest shows ever.