For the first 20 minutes of her interview with Piers Morgan, I believed every word Fiona Harvey, 58, said.
She was brilliant, eloquent and committed. She answered all questions directly and calmly. She maintained eye contact with Morgan at all times.
Could it really be that the real-life inspiration for ‘Martha’ in the Netflix hit Baby Reindeer was, after all, as innocent as she claimed? Had the damage to her reputation resulting from her being on comedian Richard Gadd’s show been a grave injustice?
After weeks of speculation, Fiona, a woman whose alleged behavior has earned her the unenviable praise of the country’s most famous stalker, has come to light.
On Thursday, his historic interview with Piers Morgan aired on his YouTube show Uncensored. He says the 60-minute pre-recorded exchange has been viewed by more than 3.5 million. The Mail, which had chosen not to name her in recent weeks, has now done so.
After weeks of speculation, Fiona Harvey, a woman whose alleged behavior has earned her the unenviable praise of the country’s most talked-about stalker, has come to light.
Piers Morgan with Fiona Harvey, the inspiration for Baby Reindeer’s character Martha, who came forward after saying her portrayal of actress Jessica Gunning was “taking over her life”.
So why did he do it? Well, in her own words, actress Jessica Gunning’s amazing performance on the show was “taking over” her life. She said she had been “harassed” online. This was her chance to set the record straight.
And at least to begin with, her claims of being harmed by the show’s writer and creator, Richard Gadd, seem completely convincing. But as the interview progressed, cracks began to appear and his story fell apart piece by piece.
Mrs. Harvey claimed to have a photographic memory. So why could she, for example, not remember the class she took for her supposed law degree?
She quickly became evasive. Where there had been eye contact before, she now looked down at the floor and toward the studio like a fox caught in a trap.
As a psychiatrist, medical ethics rules prevent me from suggesting any type of diagnosis without speaking to her personally, so I must make it clear that I am not giving her one.
Harvey denied harassing Richard Gadd; He denied sending her 41,000 emails, 350 hours of voicemails, 744 tweets, 48 Facebook messages and 106 letters.
Fiona’s historic interview with Piers Morgan was viewed by over 3.5 million people on his YouTube show Uncensored.
But I have frequently worked with patients with the type of “delusional disorder” that Martha (the character apparently based on Harvey) suffers from. And the pattern is usually the same. Their story begins convincingly, but the more you interact with them, the more it becomes clear that what they are telling you is fiction.
However, I would never describe a patient with delusional disorder as a “liar.” For them, what they say is the absolute truth. “Delusional disorder” is a mental illness that causes the sufferer to believe what he or she claims, even if it is actually unfounded.
I once treated a gentleman who thought he had a worm in his brain. He was so convincing during brief evaluations with doctors that he managed to get five MRIs done. Anyone who has tried to carry out such a test in the NHS knows only too well how difficult it can be to get just one.
But when I spoke to this man for about an hour, his story began to quickly unravel. He claimed that his neighbor had broken into his house, placed the worm in his ear, and that the creature was now talking to him.
But this patient wasn’t lying. To lie you have to know that you are not telling the truth. He absolutely believed it.
There has been speculation online that Martha, the character who appears to be based on Mrs. Harvey, could fall into this category. In her interview with Piers Morgan, Harvey denied harassing Richard Gadd; She denied sending him 41,000 emails, 350 hours of voicemails, 744 tweets, 48 Facebook messages and 106 letters.
He said Gadd’s claims were fabricated, that he “had extreme psychiatric problems” and that “he had done very well by defaming me.” She told Morgan: “I find it quite obscene, I find it horrible, misogynistic.”
But what really worries me about the Baby Reindeer format is the impact all the attention will have on Fiona Harvey herself.
Ultimately, I think she is a vulnerable woman who could very well be mentally ill and who is being paraded in front of the world as the star of a touring show.
Netflix drama Baby Reindeer delves into Richard’s harrowing real-life bullying experience as he plays a fictional version of himself called Donny Dunn (pictured)
The Scottish comedian played himself on the show, while ‘Martha’ was portrayed by Jessica Gunning.
To me, the ethics of giving him an international platform like Morgan’s show on YouTube is clearly murky.
She claims to have already suffered death threats, after being identified by Internet sleuths who are fans of the show. And now that she has identified herself, she may discover that some people are even crueler in person.
The paranoia, fear, anxiety and terror this would cause in any of us would be too much to bear. I’m really worried about her.
Fiona Harvey seems a prisoner of her own fantasy. It’s incredibly dangerous to play with a woman who isn’t used to such public scrutiny and who, by her own admission, has found Baby Reindeer’s attention difficult to endure.
Yes, the interview was compelling and Morgan conducted it with skill and professionalism. But all my long experience working with people with mental illness makes me worry about the unintended consequences of putting Harvey under the microscope in this way.
