I’m a psychiatrist and I do not believe Fiona Harvey was lying to Piers Morgan – this is why: Dr MAX PEMBERTON

For the first twenty minutes of her interview with Piers Morgan, I believed every word 58-year-old Fiona Harvey said.

She was clear, articulate and committed. She answered all questions immediately and calmly. She kept eye contact with Morgan the entire time.

Could it really be that the real-life inspiration for ‘Martha’ in the Netflix hit Baby Reindeer was as innocent as she claimed, after all? Had the damage to her reputation caused by comedian Richard Gadd’s show been a gross injustice?

After weeks of speculation, Fiona – a woman whose alleged behavior has earned her the unenviable distinction of being the country’s most famous stalker – broke cover.

Her groundbreaking interview with Piers Morgan aired on his Uncensored YouTube show on Thursday. He says the 60-minute pre-recorded broadcast was watched by more than 3.5 million people. The Mail, which had chosen not to mention her name in recent weeks, has now done so.

Piers Morgan with Fiona Harvey, the inspiration for Baby Reindeer’s character Martha, who came forward after saying her portrayal by actress Jessica Gunning ‘took over her life’

So why did she do it? Well, in her own words, her astonishing portrayal by actress Jessica Gunning on the show “took over her life.” She said she had been “hounded” online. This was her chance to set the record straight.

And for starters, her claims of injustice by the show’s writer and creator, Richard Gadd, seem entirely convincing. But as the interview progressed, the cracks began to appear and her story crumbled piece by piece.

Mrs. Harvey claimed to have a photographic memory. So why, for example, couldn’t she remember what class she took for her so-called law degree?

She quickly became evasive. Where there was once eye contact, she now looked at the floor and around the studio like a trapped fox.

As a psychiatrist, medical ethics rules prevent me from proposing any kind of diagnosis without talking to her myself, so it should be clear that I’m not making one.

Ms. Harvey denied stalking Richard Gadd; she denied sending him 41,000 emails, 350 hours of voice messages, 744 tweets, 48 ​​Facebook messages and 106 letters

Fiona’s groundbreaking interview with Piers Morgan was watched by more than 3.5 million people on his Uncensored YouTube show

But I’ve often worked with patients with the kind of “delusional disorder” that Martha (the character apparently based on Harvey) suffers from. And the pattern is often the same. Their story starts off convincingly, but the longer you interact with them, the clearer it becomes that what they are telling you is fiction.

However, I would never describe a delusional patient as a “liar.” For them, what they say is the absolute truth. ‘Delusional disorder’ is a mental illness that causes the patient to believe what he claims, even if it has no basis in fact.

I once treated a gentleman who thought he had a worm in his brain. During brief evaluations with doctors, he was so convincing that he managed to have five MRI scans done. Anyone who has tried to get such a scan on the NHS will know all too well how tricky it can be to get just one.

But as I spoke with this man for over an hour, his story quickly began to unravel. He claimed that his neighbor broke into his home, put the worm in his ear and the creature was now talking to him.

But this patient wasn’t lying. To lie, you must 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, Ms. Harvey denied stalking Richard Gadd; she denied sending him 41,000 emails, 350 hours of voice messages, 744 tweets, 48 ​​Facebook messages and 106 letters.

She said Gadd’s claims were fabricated, that he had “extreme psychiatric problems” and that he had “done a very good job of defaming me.” She told Morgan: “I think it’s quite obscene, I think it’s gruesome, misogynistic.”

But what really worries me about the Baby Reindeer format is the impact all the attention will have on Fiona Harvey herself.

I believe that ultimately she is a vulnerable woman who may have a mental illness and is being paraded before the world as the star of a touring show.

Netflix drama Baby Reindeer delves into Richard’s harrowing real-life stalking ordeal as he plays a fictional version of himself named Donny Dunn (pictured)

The Scottish comedian played himself in the show while ‘Martha’ was played by Jessica Gunning

To me, the ethics of providing an international platform like Morgan’s YouTube show are clearly murky.

She claims she has already received death threats after being identified by internet sleuths who are fans of the show. And now that she’s identified herself, she may discover that some people are even unkinder in person.

The paranoia, fear, anxiety and terror this would induce in each of us would be too much to bear. I’m genuinely worried about her.

Fiona Harvey seems like a prisoner of her own fantasy. It is incredibly dangerous to play with a woman who is not used to such public scrutiny and who – by her own admission – finds it difficult to tolerate the attention of Baby Reindeer.

Yes, the interview made for compelling viewing and Morgan conducted it deftly and professionally. But all my long experience working with mentally ill people makes me worry about the unintended consequences of examining Harvey in this way.