The woman said to be the real-life inspiration for the character Martha on the hit Netflix series Baby Reindeer is suing the streaming platform for US$170 million (NZ$274.1m), saying she has been defamed and the show intentionally caused emotional distress by telling "brutal lies".
The lawsuit, filed in California, said Harvey's life had been ruined by the series, which lawyers said had been seen by 50 million people worldwide.
"Simply, Netflix and Gadd destroyed her reputation, her character and her life," it read.
Her lawyers said the release of Baby Reindeer had caused her to experience anxiety, panic attacks, depression, loss of appetite, and go "days without leaving her home" in fear of the public.
Written by Scottish comedian Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer tells the story of a struggling comic who meets Martha in the bar where he works and soon discovers she is a dangerous serial stalker.
The first episode of Baby Reindeer claims: "This is a true story." The series depicts Martha as a twice-convicted stalker who was sentenced to five years in prison, who also sexually assaulted Gadd.
According to the lawsuit, this was "the biggest lie in television history".
"It is a lie told by Netflix and the show's creator, Richard Gadd, out of greed and lust for fame; a lie designed to attract more viewers, get more attention, to make more money, and to viciously destroy the life of Plaintiff, Fiona Harvey."
Gadd, who played Donny Dunn - a fictionalised version of himself - in the show, said he had changed identifying details about the real-life Martha.
In a statement released in May, Netflix's policy chief Benjamin King said the streamer and the series' production company "took every reasonable precaution in disguising the real-life identities of the people involved in that story".
But the lawsuit argued that like Martha, Harvey is a Scottish lawyer, living in London, 20 years older than Gadd, whose "manner of speaking and cadence is indistinguishable" from Martha's.
Like Martha, a newspaper article had accused Harvey of stalking a lawyer.
After the series was released, internet sleuths found Harvey's social media accounts - which had interacted frequently with Gadd's and used specific phrases featured in the show.
"The identification of Harvey as 'Martha' was easy and took a matter of days as Harvey's identity was completely undisguised," the lawsuit said.
Baby Reindeer claimed she sent Gadd more than 41,000 emails, 744 tweets, 100 pages of letters and 350 hours of voicemails.
However, appearing on Piers Morgan Uncensored to "set the record straight" after receiving death threats, Harvey said she'd only met Gadd three times and the emails she sent him were just "jokey banter".
Since appearing on Morgan's show, Harvey has demanded the controversial broadcaster pay her NZ$2.08 million - saying the NZ$500 she was offered for the interview was a "piddling" amount.
