Netflix viewers didn't listen to the creator of the hit Baby Reindeer and started looking for his alleged stalker.
The online investigation ended with an interview conducted with her by controversial journalist, Piers Morgan.
The real name of the series' Martha character is Fiona Harvey and, as she told the cameras, she never harassed Richard Gadd and intends to sue the streaming platform that produced his shocking series.
The 58-year-old Scot argued that she had only met the comedian three times, and when asked about the content of some of the messages, she called them "joking banter."
She denied Gadd's claims about sending him 41,000 e-mails, dozens of tweets and messages and one letter.
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Baby Reindeer through the eyes of an alleged stalker
Baby Reindeer gained international popularity overnight, and its viewers tried at all costs to determine the identity of Martha and finally found her.
"Internet detectives followed me, harassed me and threatened me with death. So it wasn't really a choice. I was forced to show myself," she told Morgan.
Then she attacked the creator of the series, whose aim was to publicise the phenomenon of stalking, not a public lynching, which he himself emphasised several times. According to Harvey, they met "two or three times" and she actually called him reindeer.
"I think he always wanted it to come out. If he's watching this, I want to tell him: Leave me alone, please. Start living, find the right job. I'm horrified by what you've done," came from the Scottish woman's mouth.
She also added she would be happy to show the world her social media accounts to prove her innocence.
Fiona Harvey feels used
When asked by Morgan if she was curious about how she was portrayed, she responded by saying, "No, I think I would feel bad. This case has taken up enough of my life. I find it terrifying, misogynistic."
"Some of the threats were really terrible. People called me. I wouldn't believe something like that and this series is not my style," she explained. She called the interest in her person mean, because "we are talking about something that happened years ago" and she could not believe that the comedian transferred the whole story to the screen.
After the interview, she attacked Morgan, arguing that the journalist had deceived her. She didn't expect questions like, "Are you sure you didn't send this guy 41,000 emails?"
"Throughout much of the interview, for a good 10 minutes, he kept coming back to it. I reacted like this: Look, even if I let some things go, it doesn't mean I'm guilty of the rest of the things. To present something as a true story it must match the facts. I feel a bit exploited," she told the media before the conversation was broadcast.
Many viewers believed that Morgan had broken all the rules of journalistic ethics - after all, Gadd himself said that the real Martha had mental problems.
"Part of me doesn't want to watch this but I can't stop," one wrote online. Another added, "One of the most unethical conversations ever."
Within 12 hours the interview had been viewed over four million times.
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This article was originally published on Onet Woman.