The woman alleging that she is the real-life inspiration for Martha, the obsessed stalker in the Netflix series Baby Reindeer, is threatening legal action against Richard Gadd, the show’s star and creator.
But a legal expert tells Us Weekly that the woman, who has not revealed her name, does not have much of a case.
“This strikes me as a very weak legal claim, and I don’t think any reputable lawyer is going to pursue it,” Neama Rahmani, who is not affiliated with the case or show, told Us Weekly exclusively.
Baby Reindeer is based on Gadd’s autobiographical one-man show of the same name, drawing from his past experience with a stalker and sexual abuse. In the series, his character, Donny Dunn, is stalked by an obsessive former lawyer named Martha.
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Gadd claims that in real life his stalker sent him 41,071 emails and 744 tweets as well as letters totaling 106 pages and 350 hours of voicemail messages. He said that the stalker’s identity in the show is so different from the person she’s based on that “I don’t think she would recognize herself.”
The woman, however, does not believe he did enough to conceal her identity.
“Richard Gadd has got ‘main character syndrome,’” she recently told the Daily Mail. “He always thinks he’s at the center 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.”
Rahmani explored the possible claims the woman, who says she has been the target of “death threats and abuse from Richard Gadd supporters,” could make.
“It wasn’t her idea,” Rahmani said of the TV series. “She didn’t copyright it, so that’s not happening. With respect to privacy, Gadd changed the name, changed the description, really hasn’t identified her at all and has asked fans not to try to identify her. So with respect to a privacy tort or any type of assault, she’s not aiding and abetting or encouraging people to do so.”
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After fans misidentified theater director Sean Foley as the inspiration for Darrien, the man who sexually abuses Donny in the series, Gadd asked fans not to try to find the people from his past.
“Please don’t speculate on who any of the real life people could be,” he wrote via his Instagram Story earlier this month. “That’s not the point of our show.”
While fans apparently did not adhere to his plea, the woman who believes she is the inspiration for Martha hasn’t helped her case either. By speaking with the Daily Mail, Rahmani says, she has only drawn more attention to herself.
“If you don’t want attention, don’t give interviews,” he explained. “Kind of reminds me of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, some of the criticism they’ve received. If you want to stay out of the public light, don’t give interviews. If you do give interviews, it’s going to draw more attention to you.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
