'Baby Reindeer' star Richard Gadd defends series against fictionalism claims

Richard Gadd, star of the Netflix miniseries Baby Reindeer, set the record straight on the fictionalisation of his true story.

According to The Guardian, Gadd, 35, filed a 21-page document in a California court on Monday, July 29, addressing a lawsuit by Fiona Harvey, who claims to be the real-life stalker depicted in the series.

Harvey is suing Netflix for $170 million, alleging defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence for billing Baby Reindeer as "a true story."

"[Baby Reindeer is a] fictionalised retelling of my emotional journey through several extremely traumatic real experiences," Gadd clarified in his court filing.

"The series is a dramatic work. It is not a documentary or an attempt at realism," he further elaborated, "While the series is based on my life and real-life events and is, at its core, emotionally true, it is not a beat-by-beat recounting of the events and emotions I experienced as they transpired."

"It is fictionalised and is not intended to portray actual facts," the two-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee emphasized

Additionally, though Harvey is never named in the series, she has publicly identified herself as the inspiration behind Martha Scott, the character who stalks Gadd in the series.

Harvey denied being a stalker or sending Gadd 41,000 emails, hundreds of voice messages, and 106 letters as chronicled in Baby Reindeer, claiming she only sent a few emails, one letter, and about 18 messages on X.