Jessica Gunning - who has become a hot talking point online recently after delivering a stellar performance on one of Netflix's new hit shows - has spoken out about all the chaos surrounding her role.
Hitting screens on April 11, Baby Reindeer follows the story of a wannabe comedian whose random act of kindness leaves him a victim to a female stalker who will stop at nothing to fuel her obsession for him. Check out the trailer below:
While the series displays some pretty frightening acts of violence as well as some overwhelming mind games, the scariest aspect is finding out that it's based on the creator's real-life experiences.
Richard Gadd, who also stars in the show as Donny Dunn, recalls his trauma through seven interesting and thought-provoking episodes, though he told Variety in an interview that certain aspects (such as the names of characters, as well as some scenes) have been enhanced to be "visually interesting".
He also stated that - for legal reasons - he tried his best to keep the identities of the real-life characters a complete mystery in the hopes that it wouldn't distract from the impact of the show.
However, that has not been entirely possible.
After watching Baby Reindeer, some viewers have now taken it upon themselves to do some investigations of their own, going around harassing innocent people as well as others who they believe had a part to play in Gadd's real life.
Things escalated so quickly that the creator himself has had to shut down rumors as well as online crucifixions on multiple occasions.
Gunning, who portrays the obsessive stalker Martha, has also spoken out amid all the chaos after many initially took to X to commend her performance.
"Jessica Gunning aka Martha is incredible. My gawd she makes you afraid, then mad at her, and also feel sorry for her. SHE IS ACTING!!! #BabyReindeer," wrote this user, while another added: "bro shoutout jessica gunning. she ate up that role as martha. incredible performance."
In a new interview with Glamour the 38-year-old actress stated that it was a "real shame" that people were more focused on exposing the real-life person rather than the lessons that were meant to be learned by the piece of work.
“I didn’t know that was happening,” she began. “I would urge people not to be doing that. I think if that is happening, I think it’s a real, real shame, because it shows that they haven’t watched the show properly.
“That’s not the point of it in any way. Netflix and Richard [Gadd] went to extreme lengths to try and make sure that the identities were kept private for a reason," she added.
She also urged people to give the show another watch if they didn't understand it properly.
“I think they should try and watch the show again, and really see what the point of it was – it definitely wasn’t that. I deliberately didn’t want to do an impersonation of somebody; I wanted to do an interpretation of this character.”
Baby Reindeer is available to watch on Netflix right now.
