Baby Reindeer Creator Asks Fans to Stop Identifying Characters
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Originally appeared on E! Online
Content warning: This story discusses sexual abuse.
Richard Gadd is reining in speculation over his Baby Reindeer characters.
The comedian, who based the Netflix show on his personal experiences with stalking and sexual assault, issued a public plea for fans to stop trying to identify his abusers.
"Hi Everyone," Gadd wrote on his Instagram Story April 22, per a screenshot taken by Today. "People I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly getting caught up in speculation. Please don't speculate on who any of the real life people could be."
He added, "That's not the point of our show."
Baby Reindeer centers around a struggling comedian who becomes the obsession of a stalker after an act of kindness. Since its April 11 premiere, internet sleuths have attempted to uncover the true identities of the characters, including Martha the stalker (played by Jessica Gunning) and Darrien the TV writer who grooms Gadd's character (portrayed by Tom Goodman-Hill).
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As Gadd noted on social media, there have been inaccurate speculation that Foley is the inspiration behind Darrien.
And while Gadd has said that the show is "emotionally 100 percent true," many key details have been changed to shield the people his characters are based on.
"It's all borrowed from instances that happened to me and real people that I met," he told Variety in an interview published April 19. "But of course, you can't do the exact truth, for both legal and artistic reasons. I mean there's certain protections, you can't just copy somebody else's life and name and put it onto television. And obviously, we were very aware that some characters in it are vulnerable people, so you don't want to make their lives more difficult."
However, it's apparently not enough for one woman, who claims what she is the inspiration behind Martha.
"He's using Baby Reindeer to stalk me now," she told the Daily Mail, accusing Gadd of "bullying an older woman on television for fame and fortune."
Pointing out that she and the Martha character are both Scottish, decades older than Gadd and have experiences studying law, the woman—who the outlet did not name—believes the 34-year-old has "written a bloody show about me."
"I'm the victim," she added. "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."
E! News has reached out to Gadd for comment but hasn't heard back.
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For free, confidential help, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or visit rainn.org.
