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6 months ago
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Baby Reindeer's 'Martha' tonight revealed her real name was Fiona Harvey - but furiously denied stalking comic Richard Gadd and said she would take Netflix to court over the drama.
In a bombshell interview Ms Harvey, 58, said she had only met the comedian three times and when quizzed on the content of some of the messages she admitted sending him called them 'jokey banter'
The Scottish woman went on to say she wanted to 'set the record straight' following the Netflix show's phenomenal global success and trolls contacting her online after it began streaming.
However, she denied sending him 41,000 emails and scores of tweets and claimed instead it was more like just ten messages and one letter sent by post.
In the wide-ranging interview with Piers Morgan, she revealed details of her 'impoverished' upbringing and that she was in a five-year relationship with a male lawyer.
Baby Reindeer's 'Martha' has said her real name is Fiona Harvey in a bombshell Piers Morgan interview about Richard Gadd's Netflix stalking drama
The 58-year-old alleged stalker is pictured on Morgan's programme
The show has been a global success and follows 'Martha' (played by Jessica Gunning) as she stalks aspiring comedian Richard Gadd - who is called Donny Dunn in the show
Piers Morgan has dropped the first trailer ahead of his interview with the 'real-life Martha' from Baby Reindeer, which is set to air on Thursday evening at 8pm
Baby Reindeer, the extraordinary hit Netflix drama, has been viewed more than 60 million times in the past month
The chilling real-life drama was inspired by the ordeal suffered by Scottish creator and leading man Richard Gadd at the hands of 'Martha' (played by Jessica Gunning, right)
The clip of the interview sees Morgan grilling the alleged stalker on everything from her views on Richard Gadd to whether she has ever been to prison
However, she also admitted she uses four phones as 'I like keeping people on separate phones'.
MailOnline had until now chosen not to name and picture her. But following her appearance with Piers Morgan we have decided to publish her picture.
The Scottish woman broke her silence in her first ever TV interview with Piers tonight at 8pm.
She said she met Mr Gadd 'two or three times' and said she did call him a 'baby reindeer'.
On being 'outed' within hours as the 'real-life Martha' online, she said: 'On the internet, sleuths tracked me down and hounded me and gave me death threats. So it wasn't really a choice. I was forced into this situation.'
She said: 'I think he [Mr Gadd] always wanted this to come out.
'I don't think I sent him anything. There may have been a couple of emails, jokey banter, but that is it.'
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.'
She said she would 'absolutely' be taking legal action against him and Netflix.
She admitted tweeting him 18 times, sending fewer than ten emails and sending him one letter but denied messaging him on Facebook.
She said she would happily open up her accounts to prove this.
She also refused leaving him voicemails.
She denied ever being charged with an offence or going to jail, as the show suggests the character Martha does.
She added: 'I think he's probably made it up himself.'
'Why now, why didn't he go to the police at the time?'
She said: 'I think anyone going along and doing this to anybody - I find the behaviour outrageous.'
Asked if she had watched the drama, she replied: 'Not at all. I've heard about the court scene, about the jail sentences and all this sort of stuff… I haven't watched any of it.'
'You're not curious, too?' Morgan asked.
She replied: 'No, I think I'd be sick. 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.'
She said the interest in her was 'absolutely horrendous'.
She said: 'I couldn't believe he'd done that. And so long after the first meeting, you know, we're talking 10, 12 years ago, really horrendous.'
Speaking about her childhood, she said it was a 'standard Scottish upbringing' in the 'countryside'.
She said she was 'impoverished' but had a 'middle class upbringing' along with her sister.
Ms Harvey said: 'My mother worked incredibly hard. My parents got divorced when I was nine but she worked like a Trojan.'
The 58-year-old also revealed she was in a five-year relationship with a male lawyer.
Baby Reindeer delves into Richard's harrowing real-life stalking ordeal and brutal sexual abuse as he plays a fictionalised version of himself called Donny Dunn (pictured)
Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning attended a photo call for a screening in LA on Tuesday
Morgan has already faced a backlash from mental health campaigners and survivors of stalking over his 'irresponsible' decision to interview the woman.
Fiona Harvey's denials
Piers asked if it was true Gadd had offered her a free cup of tea after she walked into the pub where he was working, she replied: 'No, that's not correct.'
On whether she said he looked like a 'baby reindeer' toy she had as a child, she added: '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.'
She confirmed she banter in the pub had been common, like talking about hanging curtains. 'This was a Hawley Arms joke about about curtains and a lot of sexual innuendo,' she said.
Fiona denied Gadd had ever been caught peeping in her window, adding: 'False… I didn't see him at my house. I think it would be impossible to look through a window… That categorically didn't happen.'
Pressed on the 41,000 emails, 350 hours of voice messages, 744 tweets, 48 Facebook messages, and 106 letters she is alleged to have sent him, she retorted: 'That's simply not true. There may have been a couple of emails exchanging, but that was it. Just jokey banter emails.'
She denied sending texts or Facebook messages but admitted sending hom 'about 18 tweets'.
She said she had sent him 'less than ten' emails.
On whether she ever heckled Gadd at a comedy show, she said: 'No.'
On whether she ever attacked one of the comedian's girlfriends during a jealous rage, she said: 'No, I don't think he had a girlfriend. But no, I have never been to his house or attacked any girlfriend or anything like that.'
Asked about the scenes showing Martha sitting for hours at a bus stop and whether she ever did that, she replied: 'No. Absolutely no… This is a fictional character. Hyperbole, exaggeration. This is a fiction. It's based on his imagination.' Fiona also denied ever contacting his parents.
After watching a clip of the series, showing Martha pleading guilty to intimidating Richard's character Donny and being sentenced to nine months prison time, Piers asked if she had ever been to prison or been charged, she replied 'no' to both questions.
Asked again if the nine month prison sentence 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.'
On whether Netflix had ever contacted her, she said: 'No. No one's contacted me. Never.'
On whether she believes the comedian 'felt sorry for her', she replied: 'No, I never got that impression at all. I got the impression that he was all out for himself.'
Asked about previous 'inappropriate behaviour' when working for a legal firm in Scotland, she said she had been headhunted due to her employment law credentials. She said no order or hearing was made against her in the aftermath.
Pushed again on whether she had left voicemails or sent strings of messages, she said the only explanation for the voice messages must be that she had been taped in the pub while speaking.
On whether she was ever in love with him, she said 'no, I don't fancy little boys without jobs'.
Today, the alleged stalker hit out at Morgan, saying she felt she had been 'set up' during her appearance on his show.
Before the tête-à-tête with the celebrity interviewer even aired, the woman went on the offensive, saying she is 'not happy' and felt she was being 'set up' by the interviewer.
Describing the 30-minute grilling as a 'sparring match', the alleged female stalker has accused Morgan of trying to 'trip her up' with his questions.
'Piers kept saying to me ''are you sure you haven't sent this guy 41,000 emails and phone calls?''.
'A lot of the interview, for a good 10 minutes, he kept coming back to this,' she told the Daily Record.
'I said, ''Look, even if I had sent some emails, it doesn't mean I'm guilty of the rest of the stuff''.
'As I said, in order to bill something as a ''true story'', it's got to be pretty much 100 per cent true.'
She added: 'It seemed to me that I was set up. I feel a bit used.'
The Piers Morgan Uncensored special is airing on the broadcaster's YouTube channel, which has 2.58million subscribers.
The woman will be looking to 'set the record straight' as she breaks her silence following Baby Reindeer's global success, the preview said.
Before her big interview, she paid a visit to celebrity hairdresser John Hala - who has styled the barnets of A-listers Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sigourney Weaver, Elle MacPherson and Kate Moss - at his salon in London's Canary Wharf.
Speaking to the Daily Record, she claimed she was paid £250 for the interview and had turned down requests from the likes of This Morning to talk about Baby Reindeer.
The chilling real-life drama was inspired by the ordeal suffered by Scottish creator and leading man Richard Gadd - who is called Donny Dunn in the show.
Working as a struggling stand-up comic, Dunn first meets his stalker after he offered 'a crying stranger a cup of tea' while he was working at a bar in London.
Things rapidly turn sinister, with the series claiming 'Martha' bombarded the 34-year-old from Fife with more than 41,000 emails.
She also sent him hundreds of tweets and and flooded his phone with hours of voicemails over an alleged four-year campaign of terror.
Posting ahead of the show, Morgan said: 'The real-life Martha from Baby Reindeer breaks cover and gives me her first TV interview about the smash hit Netflix show.'
He added: 'Is she a psycho stalker? Find out on Piers Morgan Uncensored.'
Baby Reindeer has proven a surprise smash for Netflix, having been viewed more than 60 million times in the first month.
Riding on the show's phenomenal success, the cast were pictured attending a swanky screening in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning - who plays Martha - beamed as they posed arm in arm and joined Nava Mau and others for a Q and A on stage.
However, the show's runaway success has been far from a joy for the 'real-life' Martha, who claimed she had been left a 'victim' by its surprise popularity.
Speaking exclusively to Mail+ last month, the woman insisted she was not a stalker and said: 'He's using Baby Reindeer to stalk me now.
'I'm the victim. He's written a bloody show about me.'
She accused Gadd of having 'main character syndrome' and claimed she had faced 'bullying' as a result of the show and was now considering legal action against him.
'He always thinks he's at the centre of things.
'I'm 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,' she added.
The actress looked worlds away from her role as Martha and had a glamorous Hollywood makeover as they took to the stage
Over four and a half years, Gadd says he received 41,071 emails, 744 tweets, letters totalling 106 pages and 350 hours of voicemail messages from the older woman, whom he calls Martha in the show
Gadd claimed he went to great lengths to conceal the identity of the woman who stalked him in real life.
Despite the comic begging fans not to search for the real 'Martha', internet sleuths went on to claim she was the inspiration for the character.
In the series, after Gadd meets his stalker at the bar, things soon descend into chaos.
It sees him being regularly followed at home and work, and tracked on Facebook using three fake accounts.
Richard Gadd was a struggling stand-up comic working behind the bar at a pub in London
He told The Times: 'At first everyone at the pub thought it was funny that I had an admirer. Then she started to invade my life, following me, turning up at my gigs, waiting outside my house, sending thousands of voicemails and emails.'
It developed to terrifying lengths as the crazed fan got closer to her obsession - including her turning up at his gigs, his workplace and bombarding him with messages.
The actor and comedian was subjected to a campaign of obsession by the woman, known as Martha, that manifested in 41,071 emails, 744 tweets, 106 pages of letters and a staggering 350 hours of voicemail.
He says it was 'years' before the police eventually took his complaints seriously - and six years before they finally intervened - something which prolonged the agony for everyone involved including his relatives.
The police told him at the time that unless his stalker became physically violent, there was little they could do to resolve the issue.
He has said he still finds it hard to trust people and has had 'every therapy going'.
He added that the years of being stalked have left him with something 'like PTSD'. For the Netflix role, he lost weight to match his 10-and-a-half stone 'neurotic' self at the height of his own stalking nightmare.
Gadd has revealed he first encountered 'Martha' when he was working in a pub and offered her a cup of tea because she was crying
Gadd says he's currently single and 'is more cautious' of people because of the campaign of terror that Martha inflicted, saying: 'It takes me a long time to trust them. Before, I entered situations with such abandonment and I got burnt.'
However, performing a version of what happened to him has enabled him to have 'ownership' of the trauma. Gadd earned a Fringe award for his show, also called Baby Reindeer, in 2019.
Speaking to the Telegraph in 2019 about the one-man show that he wrote after the ordeal, which is currently on at London's Bush theatre, he said: 'It was debilitating beyond belief.
'I'd listen to her voicemails and just feel my eyes welling up. They were tears of frustration. Proper brain-heavy stress.'
MailOnline has approached Piers Morgan, Gadd and Netflix for comment.
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