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Home / Entertainment

Baby Reindeer: All the celebrities allegedly ‘bombarded’ by Fiona Harvey, the ‘real Martha’, revealed

NZ Herald
22 May, 2024 12:48 AM7 mins to read

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Richard Gadd (left) isn't the only celebrity who claims to have been allegedly harassed by Fiona Harvey, the woman who claims is the real life Martha from the Netflix series Baby Reindeer.

Richard Gadd (left) isn't the only celebrity who claims to have been allegedly harassed by Fiona Harvey, the woman who claims is the real life Martha from the Netflix series Baby Reindeer.

More people have come forward claiming they were targets of alleged Netflix Baby Reindeer stalker Fiona Harvey following her interview on Piers Morgan’s show Uncensored, adding to the growing list of celebrities who have had run-ins.

Baby Reindeer, which was released in April, highlights the real-life experience of writer and lead actor Richard Gadd. The series follows several years of stalking the Scottish comedian claimed he suffered.

Less than a month after being released, Fiona Harvey came forward claiming to be the “real Martha”, the woman Baby Reindeer is based on.

She appeared on Morgan’s show saying the allegations are not true.

During the interview, Harvey denied sending Gadd 41,000 emails and 100 letters while stalking him. Netflix has previously claimed that the emails in the show are the real emails received by Gadd from his stalker.

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Piers Morgan has responded to criticism from alleged Baby Reindeer stalker Fiona Harvey for only paying her £250 ($517) for a sit-down interview on his programme Uncensored.
Piers Morgan has responded to criticism from alleged Baby Reindeer stalker Fiona Harvey for only paying her £250 ($517) for a sit-down interview on his programme Uncensored.

Now more people have come forward detailing their claimed experiences with Harvey.

So far, these are the well-known people who have publicly claimed to have been harassed or had unwanted contact by Harvey:

Richard Gadd

Despite Baby Reindeer exploding in popularity in April following its release, it’s not the first time the actor and lead writer had discussed his alleged encounters and harassment from Harvey.

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The comedian had been revealing details about his interactions with the “real Martha” when he was performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

In both Baby Reindeer and 2019 Edinburgh comedy show, Gadd claimed to have been sent 41,000 emails and 100 letters, as well as stalking him outside his home.

He also claimed members of his family, including his girlfriend, were harassed by Harvey.

Richard Gadd attends a SAG-AFTRA Foundation event for Netflix's Baby Reindeer. He was stalked by Fiona Harvey. Photo / Getty Images
Richard Gadd attends a SAG-AFTRA Foundation event for Netflix's Baby Reindeer. He was stalked by Fiona Harvey. Photo / Getty Images

Gadd claims that from 2015 to 2017, he was stalked and sexually assaulted by an older woman.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gadd described the height of when the alleged stalking was at its worst.

“The stalking was at its worst when she managed to get my number. I stubbornly refused to change my number, because I believed it was their responsibility to stop calling me. Then came the voicemails and I listened to them in the hope of expediting the case by finding something threatening,” he said.

“I would go to bed at night and still hear the echoes of the voicemails. It was almost maddening, hearing the voicemails bouncing around my eyelids.”

He planned to use the experience to create a show. It later became Baby Reindeer.

Sir Keir Starmer

Earlier this week, UK Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer came out claiming he was “bombarded” by vile taunts in a chilling 200-plus email spree by Harvey.

According to The Sun, Harvey sent 276 emails to the Labour Leader and lawyer over an eight-month period, which included vicious attacks on him and his family.

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According to messages obtained by The Sun, Harvey gloated over the deaths of two of Starmer’s relatives and used a disabled slur to abuse his wife.

Harvey told the Labour leader he was in a “non job”, was a “stupid little boy” and a “useless barrister”.

It’s claimed that all the emails were all sent between January and August 2020, with the majority being sent immediately after he took over the role as Labour leader.

She warned him she would target him with complaints to standards watchdogs, telling him: “Your life won’t be worth living.”

The emails were sent to his MP email address.

The emails were littered with punctuation and spelling errors, with very few full stops and a line space between each sentence.

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The messages were all signed off with “Sent from my iPhone”. These characteristics were trademarks of the emails sent to Gadd by “Martha” in Baby Reindeer.

He was spammed with a number of letters, including one where she attached photos of rubbish and wrote: “It’s as filthy as stArmers house.”

Harvey is yet to respond publicly to Starmer’s account.

Janey Godley and the British Academy Scotland Awards.
Janey Godley and the British Academy Scotland Awards.

Janey Godley

Following Fiona Harvey’s interview with Piers Morgan on his show Uncensored, Scottish stand-up comedian Janey Godley realised she had previously been hounded by the “real life Martha”.

While it wasn’t to the extent of Starmer and Gadd, Godley recalls Harvey responding to numerous tweets over the years, where many included references to Starmer’s Labour Party.

A video recorded on the comedian’s phone revealed that she had been sent over 20 tweets by the Fiona Harvey account before it ceased being active in 2018.

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Laura Wray

The widow of former UK Labour MP Jimmy Wray came forward detailing how she was allegedly targeted by Harvey over a “hellish” five-year period.

Now she fears Harvey will “come for her again” following the release of the series Baby Reindeer.

Speaking to The Mirror, Laura detailed how she gave Harvey, a lawyer, a trial at her law firm in 1997. She claimed she lasted a week before being fired for abuse.

She also claimed Harvey was accused of reporting Laura to social services for falsely claiming Laura had hit her own disabled child.

Now that her past has made a confronting return on Netflix, Laura feels fearful she’ll be a target again.

The late Glasgow Baillieston Labour MP Jimmy Wray and then wife Laura Walker in 1998.
The late Glasgow Baillieston Labour MP Jimmy Wray and then wife Laura Walker in 1998.

“I hadn’t thought about her for years. I had forgotten so much of it. Every time someone says a comment, it triggers it again. Memories of things that she did. Some of her actions. It’s pretty distressing. Watching her last night [on Piers], how did I manage to cope with that for so long?” she told The Mirror.

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She went on to say her and her partner are “concerned about what she might do next”.

Laura believes her past claims featured indirectly in Baby Reindeer when in a scene there was a picture of a fictional newspaper article that had the headline: “Sick stalker targets barrister’s deaf child”.

Following the screening of Baby Reindeer, Laura said the similarities between Martha and her stalker were striking, “obvious” and said others also noticed that Martha in the series was “my stalker”.

Piers Morgan has responded to criticism from alleged Baby Reindeer stalker Fiona Harvey for only paying her £250 ($NZD517) for a sit-down interview on his program Uncensored.
Piers Morgan has responded to criticism from alleged Baby Reindeer stalker Fiona Harvey for only paying her £250 ($NZD517) for a sit-down interview on his program Uncensored.

Fiona Harvey denies stalking claims

In an interview with Piers Morgan, Harvey directly refuted claims made by Gadd over her alleged stalking.

She has threatened legal action against both Netflix and Gadd over the allegations as well as the series describing the content as factual.

During the interview, Harvey denied sending Gadd 41,000 emails and 100 letters while stalking him. Netflix has previously claimed that the emails in the show are the real emails received by Gadd from his stalker.

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“I think he probably made them up himself,” Harvey alleged, insisting she sent him just “a handful”. When pressed by Morgan for a number, she said she sent the comedian “less than 10 emails”.

During the tense exchange with Morgan, Harvey also claimed she had only met Gadd a few times and asked him to “leave her alone”.

“I will be taking legal action against Richard Gadd and Netflix. We have instructed lawyers in part, but we want to explore all of the options out there. There are a number of people to sue.”

Harvey denied she had ever been convicted of stalking Gadd or that she had ever been to prison.

“It is completely untrue and very career damaging. I want to rebut that. I’m not a stalker. It’s just complete nonsense.”

Morgan questioned whether there was any proof Harvey was convicted or jailed.

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“Anyone who has watched the Netflix series and watched the interview will know the big question is: was this woman who was easily identified as Fiona Harvey, did Fiona Harvey ever actually go to prison? Did she admit to the crime? Was she ever convicted of being a stalker?” he wondered.

“And, at the moment, we are three four weeks into this series being aired on Netflix. No journalist in the world has managed to find out if there’s any conviction whatsoever.

“If that’s the case, Netflix’s claim at the start of every episode this is a true story is not true and she’ll be suing.”

Harvey told Morgan she is exploring her options over suing Netflix and Gadd.

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