For Miranda Cosgrove, Baby Reindeer's story is more than a little relatable.
Eight years ago, the iCarly alum had a real-life stalker who ultimately set himself on fire and fatally shot himself in her yard.
"That's another reason why I go back and forth to my parents' house so much," she told Bustle in an interview published May 10 while recounting that time of her life. "I just don't feel super safe in that house. For two years after it happened, I wouldn't really stay there. Then I got into a relationship and because that person was there with me, I was less scared. But I don't really like being there on my own that much."
But in the time since that relationship has ended, and since turning 30 in May 2023, a goal she's given herself is "to find a place that I feel really safe, to kind of start a new chapter," something she says is still ongoing.
Yet despite the fact that Baby Reindeer's premise—creator and star Richard Gadd's experience with his own stalker—could have been triggering for Miranda, she said the truth is, "I didn't think about it very much."
She did share, however, her admiration for Richard's willingness to delve back into that challenging part of his history.
"I feel like if that were me," she said, "having to go back through your most terrible experiences and then try to act them [out], that'd be so hard."
And for his part, as cathartic as writing Baby Reindeer—which started as a one-man show before becoming the Netflix series—was, Richard has also admitted walking the line of telling his own personal truth wasn't always easy.
"I never wanted to kind of lie," Richard explained of the creative process during a recent event in Los Angeles. "I always had to constantly check myself to be like, does this feel truthful to me and to my experience all the way through? If it didn't, I would have to bring it back. But it was a tightrope."
He continued, "It was a constant process between what works for a TV show and not selling out on your own story, and that continued all the way from writing all the way to filming and all the way through the editing process in finding that right balance. I think we did in the end, but it was a hell of a process."
A process that has since paid off, with the show skyrocketing up the streaming platform's top 10 charts since it's April 11 release date.
And on why he feels the show has resonated so deeply, the Scottish native points to the nuanced nature of life.
"The world is maybe in a bit more pain than I think we realize, perhaps," Richard reflected. "If you just look at the state of the world right now, everything just feels slightly wrong. I think Baby Reindeer has stood out so much because it goes back to something about the human condition, which is dark and difficult and challenging, and every human being is a mixture of good and bad."
For more on the true story behind Baby Reindeer, keep reading.