Who is the real

Release time：2024-05-21 08:44:37 Source：World Wanderer news portal

Fans are raving about the new Netflix show Baby Reindeer, but many are questioning the real identity of Martha Scott. 

Comedian Richard Gadd, from Fife, plays Donny in the hit series which is based on a real experience he had with a relentless stalker. 

Baby Reindeer takes its title from the nickname given to Donny by his stalker, who is referred to as just 'Martha'.

Gadd, 34, has not revealed the real name and identity of Martha meaning it is incredibly hard to find out where she is now, but he opened up about his ordeal back in 2019.

Martha sent him more than 41,000 emails, 350 hours of voicemail, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages and 106 pages of letters.

Gadd, 34, has not revealed the real name and identity of Martha meaning it is incredibly hard to find out where she is now. Above: Martha played by Jessica Gunning

Comedian Richard Gadd, from Fife, plays Donny in the hit series which is based on a real experience he had with a relentless stalker

She also gave him items such as sleeping pills, a woolly hat, a pair of brand new boxer shorts and a stuffed reindeer toy.

Gadd first met his stalker after he offered 'a crying stranger a cup of tea' when she came into the bar where he worked. 

But Martha's obsession grew. She started invading his life by following him around, turning up at his gigs and even waited outside his home. 

But despite Martha affecting his life for years, he said that he feels sorry for her, adding that she is a victim of a 'failed system'. 

He told the Independent at the time: 'I can't emphasise enough how much of a victim she is in all this.

'Stalking and harassment is a form of mental illness. It would have been wrong to paint her as a monster, because she's unwell, and the system's failed her.'

He told the Guardian that because she was not getting the assistance she needed, 'her instability would just come down the phone at me every day.'

Netflix said that every single email that was shown in the series was a real message that was sent from the woman to Gadd, giving fans a real insight into Martha's character. 

He said that the woman, whose real identity remains unknown, drove a 'freight train' through his ability to have a normal life and relationships.

Martha (above played by Jessica Gunning) sent him more than 41,000 emails, 350 hours of voicemail, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages and 106 pages of letters

Gadd first met his stalker after he offered 'a crying stranger a cup of tea' when she came into the bar where he worked. ABove: Jessica Gunning as Martha 

Gadd's real stalker gave him a stuffed reindeer toy and the nickname 'Baby Reindeer' 

The Netflix series sees Martha, who is played by Jessica Gunning on the show, given a prison sentence for her offences but Gadd hasn't divulged the fate of his own stalker, except to say the issue has been resolved and he never wanted to 'throw someone who was that level of mentally unwell in prison.' 

When asked whether the release of the show might increase her obsessive behaviours, Gadd told the outlet: 'I have to admit that it hasn't. Maybe seeing this in the press has made her think twice about her behaviour.'

He also told GQ: 'We’ve gone to such great lengths to disguise her to the point that I don’t think she would recognise herself.'

The comedian added that the story is based on an 'emotional truth' rather than a 'fact-by-fact profile of someone.' 

Gadd said he couldn't predict how his stalker would react to things, calling her an 'idiosyncratic person.'. 

He says it was 'years' before the police eventually took his complaints seriously - and six years before they finally intervened - something which prolonged the agony for everyone involved including his relatives.  

The police told him at the time that unless his stalker became physically violent, there was little they could do to resolve the issue. 

He has said he still finds it hard to trust people and has had 'every therapy going'. 

He added that the years of being stalked have left him with something 'like PTSD'. For the Netflix role, he lost weight to match his 10-and-a-half stone 'neurotic' self at the height of his own stalking nightmare. 

The comedian added that the story is based on an 'emotional truth' rather than a 'fact-by-fact profile of someone'

He has said he still finds it hard to trust people and has had 'every therapy going' . Above: In the show

Gadd says he's currently single and 'is more cautious' of people because of the campaign of terror that Martha inflicted, saying:  'It takes me a long time to trust them. Before, I entered situations with such abandonment and I got burnt.' 

However, performing a version of what happened to him has enabled him to have 'ownership' of the trauma. Gadd earned a Fringe award for his show, also called Baby Reindeer, in 2019.  

Speaking to the Telegraph in 2019 about the one-man show that he wrote after the ordeal, which is currently on at London's Bush theatre, he said: 'It was debilitating beyond belief. 

'I'd listen to her voicemails and just feel my eyes welling up. They were tears of frustration. Proper brain-heavy stress.' 

Related articles