What Happened to the Real-Life "Martha" From 'Baby Reindeer'?

Richard Gadd’s lifestyles impressed his debut Netflix sequence, ‘Baby Reindeer.’ Now, his real-life stalker isn’t a priority for Richard.

Apr. 25 2024, Published 5:29 p.m. ET

The world is captivated by Richard Gadd’s tale in Baby Reindeer, which made its method to Netflix after he debuted the tale as an Edinburgh Fringe show in 2019. As we dive into the lore of Richard’s existence, his stalker, his abuser, and his friends and fanatics, audience can’t lend a hand however surprise what happened to they all in real lifestyles.

In the series, Richard reimagines himself as Donny, who’s being stalked by way of a lady named Martha, portrayed by way of Jessica Gunning. Jessica’s portrayal shows Martha as a lady deeply damaged by her personal obsession in some way that’s each terrifying and pitiful. Of path, we need to know what happened to the real-life Martha and if she’s looking at Baby Reindeer at house.

Richard can’t exactly say what happened to Martha from ‘Baby Reindeer.’

Without giving too much away, Martha is sentenced to 9 months in jail in Baby Reindeer, however we’re not sure if that’s what in fact happened to the anonymous particular person she’s in accordance with. Richard explained to Variety that he had to make the character very different from the real particular person “for felony reasons.”

The similarities between the real-life person and the on-screen depiction lie in the feelings. “It’s all emotionally 100 percent true, if that is smart,” he said. “I mean there’s sure protections, you'll be able to’t just replica somebody else’s existence and title and put it onto television. And clearly, we were very aware that some characters in it are inclined folks, so that you don’t need to make their lives tougher.”

Even nonetheless, he felt that actress Jessica Gunning was once very best even supposing completely other from his precise stalker. “She’s out of the ordinary,” he mentioned. “I wanted to see anyone who was once prone one second, offended the next, risky however so desperate and sympathetic. I needed to see anyone who may just seize a full gamut of feelings.

"When somebody has severe mental health problems, they tend to leap from one emotion to the next, sometimes even quite quickly. And that’s very hard to do from an acting point of view, but Jess seems to have it in her pores, it seems to just fall out of her.”

In an interview with The Times, Richard added that the situation was “resolved.” He also said he “didn’t want to throw someone who was that level of mentally unwell in prison,” suggesting that she’s not behind bars. But unfortunately, we may never know what exactly happened to her.

Richard Gadd isn’t concerned about the real-life Martha watching the Netflix show.

“I honestly couldn’t speak as to whether she would watch it,” Richard said to GQ. “Her reactions to things varied so much that I almost couldn't predict how she’d react to anything. She was quite an idiosyncratic person. We’ve gone to such great lengths to disguise her to the point that I don’t think she would recognize herself. What’s been borrowed is an emotional truth, not a fact-by-fact profile of someone.”

He did reveal, however, that he actually pressed charges against her. “I do think the institution needs improvement, especially around stalking. I can think of numerous examples where people have complained to the police about a stalker but because maybe they’ve had a previous relationship the police haven’t taken it seriously.

“They can look for a concrete reason to arrest … but sometimes situations are more nuanced than that. The first thing the police should do is try to preserve the safety of the person who is making the report rather than going through a long, arduous process to work out whether they should believe them or not,” he advocated.

All we can hope is that Richard’s anonymous stalker is excited and wholesome and that Richard himself isn’t letting his newfound fame lead to some other “baby reindeer” situation.

Baby Reindeer is now to be had to stream on Netflix.

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