When I say Baby Reindeer has been the only thing everyone is talking about, I am certainly not exaggerating. Whether it is Stephen King’s two wordsre, the destroyed brains still processing the series, sleuths trying to find out the real-life identities of its characters, or a self-proclaimed “Martha” calling Richard Gadd a “bully.” Concerningly, a new narrative has joined the list.
Spirited debates are still ongoing in an attempt to figure out the amount of creative liberty Gadd took while finding the courage to relive the most traumatic years of his life on screen. But now, revelations and most importantly, troubling allegations have cropped up against the series writer, director, and star — trans actress Reece Lyons has put a question mark on Gadd’s professional conduct and accused him of creating a “power dynamic” where she had no option but to enter into a relationship with him since she felt that refusing him would cost her the audition.
While Lyons doesn’t want to call herself a “victim of any kind of abuse,” she claims that the whole ordeal of dating Gadd for a few months, facing his “highly defensive and dismissive” attitude towards whatever observations she had about Baby Reindeer or about her character, and being “gaslighted” by him left her questioning and gaslighted herself when she was eventually informed by him that she was not getting the role of Teri.
As detailed in her post, Lyons had raised concerns about adding a relationship to a work dynamic and even went so far as to comment that he has the “tendency to fetishize trans women,” something that allegedly conjured a “highly intense and emotionally dysregulated reaction.”
She shared that she tried to end the relationship, but it was in vain as he soon asked her out again.
After he informed her that Netflix had not picked her despite her “exceptional” audition, Gadd broke up with her according to Lyons, who revealed that the actor said their relationship wouldn’t work out since she was “too confrontational” for him.
The claims were made by Lyons in a long thread on X (formerly Twitter) back in April 2024, but the situation detailed by her was only investigated by Clerkenwell Films (the producer of the series) after she ensured that they were aware of her post since they were unaware of the fact that Gadd pursued a romantic relationship with her between October and November 2021. But as detailed by Deadline, Clerkenwell, with only minimal input from Lyons in writing, has concluded that Gadd’s remained within the boundaries of professionalism and his dating Lyons did not, in any way, impact why Nava Mau was eventually selected for the role.
Other details from Lyons’ thread have also been confirmed, like she did meet Gadd in October 2021 in the bar of London’s Bush Theatre and was then offered the chance to audition for Baby Reindeer. So far, Netflix and Gadd haven’t addressed the matter, including Lyons who has refused to comment or provide more details outside of what she has already shared in the thread.