The 5 biggest claims Baby Reindeer’s ‘real’ Martha made in Piers Morgan interview

Piers Morgan’s controversial interview with the woman alleged to have inspired Richard Gadd’s stalker character in Baby Reindeer aired on Thursday (9 May).

Gadd’s autobiographical series on Netflix follows a comedian who is relentlessly harassed and stalked by Martha Scott (played by Jessica Gunning) for more than four years. It has become an overwhelming hit for Netflix following its 11 April release.

Scottish lawyer Fiona Harvey, 58, who has been labelled the “real Martha”, appeared onPiers Morgan Uncensored to “set the record straight after being unmasked by fans”.

Harvey claims to have met Gadd while he was working at the Hawley Arms pub in Camden, which was renamed The Heart in the show.

Morgan was criticised for conducting the interview, with fans calling the decision “morally questionable” since Gadd told The Independent that the real person who inspired Martha was “mentally unwell”.

During her appearance, Harvey denied a number of elements of the show that Gadd has said are true to his life. The Independent has contacted Gadd’s representatives and Netflix for comment.

Below are the four biggest claims the “real” Martha made in Morgan’s interview.

Harvey said she hasn’t seen ‘Baby Reindeer’

Despite vehemently denying parts of Gadd’s story, Harvey admitted at the beginning of the interview that she has not seen Baby Reindeer.

“You’re not curious, too?” Morgan asked.

“No, I think I’d be sick,” she responded. “It’s taken over enough of my life. I find it quite obscene. I find it horrifying, misogynistic. Some of the death threats have been really terrible online. People phoning me up. You know, it’s been absolutely horrendous. I wouldn’t give credence to something like that and it’s not really my kind of drama.”

Harvey admitted to coming up with the nickname that inspired the show’s title

“I had a toy reindeer and he’d shaved his head, that bit is true, and there were reindeers in the shops because it was Christmas time or something. It was a joke. So I have inadvertently penned the name of the show.”

She also confirmed that the sexual joke about Gadd “hanging her curtains” had been told in the pub they met at.

“This was a Hawley Arms joke about curtains and a lot of sexual innuendo,” she said.

She added that Gadd did not offer her a free cup of tea, as he did with Martha in the show, and that she always paid for her drinks.

Richard Gadd as Donny in ‘Baby Reindeer’ (Ed Miller/Netflix)

Harvey denied sending Gadd 40,000 emails

Gadd told Netflix he received a staggering 41,071 emails, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages, 106 pages of letters and 350 hours of voicemail from his real-life stalker. In an Instagram post, the streaming service confirmed that the emails shown in the series were the real emails Gadd received.

However, in her interview with Morgan, Harvey claimed she sent Gadd only “a handful” of emails.

“That’s simply not true. If somebody was sending somebody 41,000 emails or something, they’d be doing how many a day? Lots,” she said.

“I think he probably made them up himself,” Harvey alleged. When pressed by Morgan for the number of emails she thinks she sent the comedian, she said “less than 10”.

She further denied having Gadd’s phone number and claimed she only sent him one written letter.

Richard Gadd as Donny and Jessica Gunning as Martha in ‘Baby Reindeer’ (Ed Miller/Netflix)

Harvey said she’s considering suing Netflix

“I will be taking legal action against Richard Gadd and Netflix. We have instructed lawyers in part, but we want to explore all of the options out there. There are a number of people to sue,” Harvey told Morgan.

When challenged about the potential existence of tens of thousands of emails that would prove the show was a true story, Harvey said: “I wouldn’t be suing if I thought there were 41,000 emails out there.”

Harvey denied going to jail

Asked if the nine-month prison sentence Martha receives in the drama is based on reality, she said: “That’s completely untrue. Very, very defamatory to me, very career damaging. And I wanted to rebut that completely on this show. I’m not a stalker. I’ve not been to jail, I’ve not got injunctions, interdicts. This is just complete nonsense.”

Asked if she had a message for Richard Gadd if he was watching, she said: “Leave me alone, please. Get a life, get a proper job. I am horrified at what you’ve done.”

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