The real-life woman behind Netflix's Unbelievable has thanked the show for giving her "closure" in the wake of her harrowing sexual assault.
The series, which landed on the streaming service on Friday, 13th September, tells the true story of teenager Marie who is charged with lying about rape, and the two female detectives who seek to uncover the truth.
Journalist Ken Armstrong, who co-wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning article, 'An Unbelievable Story Of Rape', which the Netflix series is based on, took to Twitter earlier this week to share that how Marie felt after watching the show.
He wrote: "Two weeks ago I got a call, from Marie. She told me she had just watched the series.
"Watching it was hard, she said. 'I did cry quite a bit,' she said. But she had decided she wanted to and was glad that she did. She called the show 'excellent.'"
Praising actress Kaitlyn Dever, who portrays her in the show, Ken added that Marie told him: "Marie has told me before that it can be a struggle for her to put her feelings and thoughts into words.
"In that scene, she said, Kaitlyn Dever captured her struggle. 'It was, like, perfect,' she said."
In the first episode of the acclaimed series, viewers watch as Marie's harrowing ordeal plays out while the other victims' assaults play out over a three-year timeline during the investigation.
Ken then revealed in a later tweet that Marie said watching her story play out on screen and the moment the two detectives prove she was one of the rapist's victims helped her get "closure" from her past.
He added: "Watching the last episode, watching the re-creation of the Colorado detectives closing in, provided Marie something she didn't expect. Seeing him get put away, that was closure for me,' she said."
Unbelievable, which is based on the award-winning article by T. Christian Miller, ProPublica and Ken Armstrong, The Marshall Project, told the true story of an 18-year-old girl who reported being raped at knife point in 2008.
Marie told detectives how a man had entered her home and raped her, before binding her with shoelaces and taking photos of her, which he threatened to post online should she tell anyone.
Nevertheless, she reported the rape, but within days, her story, investigated by male detectives, was thrown into doubt. Everyone around the girl, including her foster parents and friends, doubted her story.
Marie later retracted her accusation and passed it off as a vivid dream. The next year, she was charged with false reporting of a rape and took a plea deal.
In 2011, two female detectives caught her rapist when they began investigating similar intruder rapes.
In the TV adaptation, female detectives Edna Hendershot and Stacy Galbraith, are taken on by Toni Collette and Merritt Wever. Danielle Macdonald Birdbox makes up the main cast as a victim of a similar rape in a neighbouring town.
Though the names of the victims are fictionalised, the details of the case depicted in the series are said to ring true with the real events.
For support and advice, visit Rape Crisis here.
Featured Image Credit: NetflixTopics: TV News, TV Entertainment, Netflix
