Lily Allenhas said that she 'doesn't think Baby Reindeer would have got green-lit if the protagonist was female' as she opened up about her own stalking ordeal.
Hit Netflix series Baby Reindeer sees comedian Richard Gadd's character Donny Dunn face a relentless stalking campaign from a woman called Martha.
Speaking to The Sunday Times Style magazine on the show's success, singer Lily, 39, has suggested that it wouldn't have 'landed so massively' if the victim had been a woman.
After years of obsessively following her, Lily's stalker Alex Gray broke into her home in October 2015 while she and her children were inside sleeping, leading to his conviction and detention under the Mental Health Act in 2016. She later criticised police for not taking her case seriously.
'I find it interesting that Baby Reindeer has landed so massively.'Lily told the publication on Sunday. 'I feel like if it had been a female protagonist it wouldn't have got green-lit.'
Lily Allen said that she 'doesn't think Baby Reindeer would have got green-lit if the protagonist was female' as she opened up about her own stalking ordeal to The Sunday Times
Hit Netflix series Baby Reindeer sees comedian Richard Gadd's character Donny Dunn face a relentless stalking campaign from a woman called Martha
She added: 'People will not be remotely as interested in a woman's story, which is arguably more common than a male story.'
Scottish comedian Richard, 34, based the hit limited series on his real life and it quickly became a word-of-mouth sensation.
Throughout the series, Donny is hounded by Martha (Jessica Gunning) as she relentlessly calls, messages and writes him, as well as stalking him at the bar he works, at home and at his comedy gigs - which all starts after he serves her in a London pub while working as a bartender.
The tale gets progressively darker as each episode passes and as Martha's obsession intensifies, Donny is forced to recall his past trauma related to being sexually assaulted.
Over four and a half years, Richard says he received 41,071 emails, 744 tweets, letters totalling 106 pages and 350 hours of voicemail messages from his real stalker.
Lily shares daughters Ethel, seven, and Marnie, five with her ex-husband Sam Cooper and was in the house with her now-ex boyfriend Meridian Dan when the break-in happened nine years ago.
The singer lateradmitted she was not satisfied with the work of police as they tried to pass off Gray's break-in as a burglary, saying at the time: 'I was sort of gaslit by police.
'I can't tell you what their motivations were, but from my perspective this guy committed this horrendous crime and I believed he would do it again.'
Scottish comedian Richard, 34, based the hit limited series on his real life and it quickly became a word-of-mouth sensation
Throughout the series, Donny is hounded by a woman called Martha (pictured) - played by Jessica Gunning - as she relentlessly calls, messages, and writes him, as well as stalking him at the bar he works, at home and at his comedy gigs
Speaking this week, Lily suggested men who are victims of stalking are, in her experience, taken more seriously by the authorities.
She said: 'There were a handful of occasions with men that I vaguely knew who would be surprised at how I felt I'd been mistreated by the police because they had had experiences with female stalkers and said the police couldn't have been more helpful. In contrast to how women feel when it happens to them, it's quite upsetting.'
Paranoid schizophrenic Gray told police he planned to drive a knife into Lily's face while burgling her London flat where she and her two children were asleep.
He wrongly believed that Lily owed him millions of pounds for stealing his song lyrics and may have had a part in his father's death.
She lived with a panic alarm after calling police when she saw a sign saying 'I wrote The Fear' in the audience of a show and had security shutters installed in her home.
Lily shares daughters Ethel, seven, and Marnie, five with her ex-husband Sam Cooper (pictured at their 2011 wedding)
But on October 1 2015 she forgot to lock her door after opening it to place a burned pan outside.
She awoke to hear her bedroom door opening and Gray walked in yelling that she was a 'f****** bitch' in the early hours of the following morning.
Gray had already taken her handbag, phone, jewellery, hard drive, keys, a glass vase and money and stashed them somewhere before returning to her room.
The then-31-year-old, from Perth, was handed an indeterminate hospital order and restraining order for burglary and stalking.
