The creator of the Netflix miniseries “Baby Reindeer” is breaking his silence on a multi-million dollar defamation lawsuit stemming from the woman at the center of the drama.
In the 21-page declaration, he detailed years of alleged abuse, stalking, and harassment suffered at the hands of Harvey, which inspired but did not directly depict the character “Martha Scott” for the series.
The show was based on Gadd’s real-life experience while working as a young comedian at the Hawley Arms pub in the UK, where the two met in 2014.
Gadd claimed over the next few years Harvey “subsequently stalked and harassed him” frequently appearing at his place of work and often making “inappropriate and sometimes sexual” advances toward him.
“It quickly became clear that she had memorized my shift pattern by hanging around the pub constantly. She would then arrive just before my shift started on most days I was working and sit at the end of the bar. She would also call the pub constantly on days when I was not working to check if I was in. This went on for a very long period of time. Sometimes she would stay for my entire shift, other times she would stay a few hours. Sometimes she would just say something and abruptly leave.”
He alleges the harassment got progressively worse after Harvey obtained his personal email address and phone number. She would contact him “relentlessly” despite Gadd never engaging or responding, and eventually made an official complaint to UK authorities.
“Harvey sent me thousands of emails, hundreds of voicemails, and a number of handwritten letters. These communications often included sexually explicit, violent, and derogatory content, hateful speech, and threats.”
“I never intended the Series to identify any real person as Martha Scott, including Harvey. Martha Scott is not Fiona Harvey. Like all characters in the Series, Martha is a fictional character with fictional personality traits that are very different than Harvey’s,” said Gadd.
Further, the company argues the series does not identify her as an alleged abuser and is a “substantially true” depiction of her alleged actions.
“The cumulative effect of all of Harvey’s actions was enormous. It was exhausting and extremely upsetting to deal with her constant personal interactions in the Hawley Arms, her following me around London including near where I lived and her relentless and deeply unpleasant communications. I was frightened about what she might be capable of, given the progressive hostility and escalation in her communications, and volume of her conduct,” read the filing.
Harvey is seeking $100 million in compensatory damages for “mental anguish, loss of enjoyment and loss of business,” $50 million for “all profits from ‘Baby Reindeer’” and $20 million for punitive damages.
The Epoch Times has reached out to representatives for both Harvey and Netflix for comment.
“Baby Reindeer” secured a total of 11 Emmy nominations this year, including for “best limited or anthology series” and is among the top 10 biggest shows ever for Netflix.
