Comedian with dark story ‘scarier than Baby Reindeer’ to head to Edinburgh Fringe

When Baby Reindeer released on Netflix earlier this year. Viewers were horrified by the details surrounding Richard Gadd’s ordeal.

The show has sparked a huge amount of debate about Gadd’s experience and the “real” identity of his stalker “Martha”, with online buzz catapulting it into Netflix’s “Top 10” lists in nearly 100 countries.

Now, American comedian Anna Akana has come forward and revealed that Gadd’s experience inspired her to share her own “scarier” story.

Akana, 34, is best known for her popular YouTube videos. She has also appeared in films and TV shows such as Ant Man It is NCIS: Los Angeles.

Akana has now opened up about her horrific stalking ordeal on her latest show It gets darker – which will take place at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival next month.

The show details how Akana felt forced to stop performing live due to threats to her safety in 2017, previously revealing on her Instagram that the man

would have threatened to shoot her during a performance.

“But armed with a restraining order and years of therapy, I finally feel okay about going back,” she added.

According to Akana, the harassment escalated to the point where the man showed up at her home in 2020 and left “random things” such as “totems” and “bloody necklaces.”

“I finally managed to gather enough of his speeches to get a restraining order,” Akana explained in an interview with The Times, adding that the ordeal “kind of ended” his career for a while.

However, there were several moments when the comedian was more than aware of the serious threat to her personal safety.

“But there came a point where I thought, ‘Is he going to break into my house? Is this how I’m going to die?'” she added.

“The police said they couldn’t do anything until he showed up at a show and said he was going to hurt me.”

Akana went on to explain that she thought Baby Reindeer was a ‘fascinating’ and ‘incredible’ show, but claimed the differences between her and Gadd’s experiences were a gender issue.

“It’s a very different portrayal because to some extent Gadd’s character (Donny) felt a sense of revenge from his stalker, which I didn’t,” she explained, adding that she believes a stalked woman often carries with her an “implied physical threat.”

“I loved Baby reindeer, but I was never really worried that he would be in a situation that he couldn’t physically get out of,” Akana added.