The drama surrounding the hit Netflix show Baby Reindeer has reached a fever pitch now that the real-life Martha has come forward to tell her side of the story.
Supposedly the events depicted were pretty close to what happened to Richard Gadd in reality, or so he claims. The disturbing adaptation of the true story sparked an internet wide hunt for the person the story was based on. It didn’t take long (in fact, only a few days) as “Martha Scott” was outed as one Fiona Harvey, and the woman herself confirmed as much shortly after being discovered.
Fiona promised that and she would set the record straight after saying the Netflix show made her look bad. Up until now we’ve only had Gadd’s side of the story, but Harvey’s recent interview with Piers Morgan has provided some surprising revelations that give an entirely new perspective on what went down, so here are some of Fiona’s most shocking claims.
Fiona Harvey claims she never went to jail
According to the show, “Martha” supposedly went to jail twice. Once before she entered “Donny’s” life and once again afterwards. But Fiona claims that this was never the case; when asked by Morgan whether she had ever been to prison, she replied “of course not.” That means, if Harvey is being truthful, that the scene where Martha pleads guilty at the end of the show must not have happened. There would be police files to prove that Harvey went to jail, but she seemed confident there would be no such records of her ever being sent to prison.
She claims she barely knows Richard Gadd
Although she didn’t deny being in the company of Gadd on a number of occasions, Fiona Harvey says that she didn’t stalk him the way the show presented it. The stories she tells to Piers change a few times over the course of the hour interview, in some instances she claims that she only met Gadd “maybe 5 or 6 times” and then she says they were friends, and then she says that her interactions with him only spanned 2 to 3 months. She also claims that she hadn’t seen him in 12 years, although a few of her tweets were from less than 12 years ago. Either way, Harvey admits that the play and subsequent show came as a surprise.
Harvey claims she received “death threats”
Explaining to Piers why she made the decision to come on the show, Harvey claims that internet sleuths tracked her down and sent her death threats, so coming on the show “wasn’t really a choice, I was forced into this situation.” The internet can be brutal sometimes, so it’s certainly possible that she’s telling the truth when she says “some of the death threats have been really terrible online.”
She claims hasn’t watched any of Baby Reindeer
When asked if she’d actually watched Baby Reindeer, she told Piers, “not at all […] I haven’t watched any of it.” Explaining why she’d avoided it thus far she said, “I think I’d be sick, it’s taken over enough of my life, I find it quite obscene, I find it horrifying.” Telling Piers that the show is “not really my kind of drama” she clearly was not a fan of the decisions made in portraying her character.
Harvey claims lot of the plot points just never happened
Harvey denied a number of events from the show, including the fact that Gadd supposedly gave her free drinks, she claims she never heckled him at a comedy gig, asking “why would I do that?” She also denies ever attacking Gadd’s girlfriend, and says that she never even knew where he lived, let alone showing up to his house and waiting outside. Those are just a few of the things she denied, although throughout her conversation with Morgan she did confirm a few things, like calling Gadd “Baby Reindeer,” and that the “hanging curtains” remark was real.
While Harvey claims she never sent all those emails, she does have six different email addresses
Piers Morgan decided to focus on the emails, quizzing Fiona on them for a good portion of the interview. She denied she sent anything at first, but then later admitted that she did send a few messages, “I don’t think I sent him anything […] there may have been a couple of emails.” When questioned further by Morgan she’d be happy for someone to check her computer or phone to prove she never sent all those emails.
There were supposedly around 41,000 emails sent but Fiona claims she only sent around ten. She did admit to having multiple different email addresses, six in total which is probably a bit more than the average person would have.
Fiona Harvey thinks Richard Gadd is psychotic
Saying the comedian was “full of himself,” Fiona claims that Gadd needed help as well as implying he’s a hypocrite, “for someone who says he feels sorry for me, I’ve had no apology.” She claims that the whole show is just an attack on her by Gadd, and a way to him to make money. She also went on to say that he was actually the one obsessed with her saying, “Leave me alone please, get a life, get a proper job.” She also believes that Gadd wanted her to be found as a way of hurting her, with Morgan agreeing that there wasn’t a lot done to protect her identity, “I’ve been a journalist 40 years, I could have discovered it was you in about 10 minutes.”
Harvey claims she actually is a lawyer
She claims that she did a law degree at Aberdeen University, as well as stating she had a photographic memory, although she avoided answering Morgan’s question regarding what grade she got for her degree. When she did finally answer, it was a non-committal response, saying she did got “alright” grades. She also apparently got a trainee job at a law firm in the 90’s. When Piers read that her boss claimed to have sacked her after a few days, Harvey denied this and claimed that she resigned.
Yes, Fiona Harvey intends to sue Netflix and Richard Gadd
Harvey has already threatened a lawsuit against Gadd and Netflix, as the streaming giant defamed her. When Morgan asked her “and you will categorically be taking legal action,” she replied, “absolutely against both him and Netflix.” She also doubled down on the fact that when it goes to court they will find none of the emails Gadd claims he received, “I wouldn’t be suing if I thought there were 41,000 emails out there.”
She claims she was never in love with Richard Gadd
This is a pretty major part of the entire story, and yet another thing that Harvey claims is completely untrue. In fact, she says that Gadd actually asked her to sleep with him, however, she brushed him off telling Morgan “I don’t fancy little boys without jobs.”
Can we trust what Fiona Harvey says?
How true is any of what Fiona told Piers? It’s up for debate; she seems incredibly confident that there is absolutely no evidence to prove Gadd’s story, but we’ll likely find out if she pushes on with her lawsuit and this goes to court.