A woman who claims to be the inspiration for the character Martha Scott in Netflix’s hit TV series “Baby Reindeer” has filed a $170 million lawsuit against the streaming giant.
in Litigation Fiona Harvey filed the lawsuit on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, suing Netflix for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, gross negligence and violation of right of publicity.
The series is a sequel to this year’s phenomenally successful series and stars 35-year-old Scottish writer and actor Richard Gadd, who based the show on his own experiences as a victim of a stalker.
Harvey has publicly said he was the inspiration for the series, but denies stalking Gad and claims to have sent 41,000 emails, hundreds of voice messages and 106 letters to him.
In a recent interview with Piers Morgan, Harvey said: Said“I don’t think I sent him anything. There might have been a few jokey emails back and forth, but that’s it.”
The lawsuit, which names Netflix as a defendant, states, “Among the lies Defendants told about Harvey to more than 50 million people around the world were that Harvey had been convicted twice of stalking and received a five-year sentence, and that Harvey sexually assaulted Gad. Defendants continued to tell these lies and never stopped because it was a better story than the truth, and a good story makes money.”
It added: “Netflix is a multi-billion dollar, multinational entertainment streaming company that has done literally nothing to verify the ‘truth’ of Mr. Gad’s version, including investigating whether Mr. Harvey was convicted of a crime. This is a serious misrepresentation of fact, and they failed to understand any relationship, if any, between Mr. Gad and Ms. Harvey. As a result of the Defendants’ lies, misconduct and utterly reckless misconduct, Ms. Harvey’s life has been ruined. Simply put, Netflix and Mr. Gad destroyed her reputation, her character and her life.”
Harvey is seeking at least $50 million in actual damages, at least $50 million in compensatory damages for emotional distress, loss of enjoyment and loss of business, and at least $50 million for “all profits from ‘Baby Reindeer,'” as well as $20 million in punitive damages.
The Guardian has contacted Netflix for comment.
In an interview with The Guardian in April, Gad said the series had been “tweaked a bit to create a dramatic climax.”
“Obviously, this is very true emotionally. I was horribly stalked and horribly abused. But we wanted it to exist in the realm of art and to protect the people it was about,” he said.
This week, Baby Reindeer Major winners The show is expected to be a front-runner for Emmy nominations, which will be announced in July at the Gotham TV Awards in New York City. Reaching over 60 million viewers The show was the most-watched show in its first month on the platform and is expected to be one of Netflix’s 10 biggest shows of all time.
