British model Chloe Ayling, who was kidnapped in Italy in 2017, has revealed that she often encounters people who still don’t believe her story.
The 27-year-old from south London was lured into attending a fake photoshoot in Milan eight years ago. She was kidnapped and drugged and told she would be sold as a sex slave on the black market.
Six days later, however, her kidnapper drove her back to Milan and left her at the UK consulate.
Ayling was ridiculed by media and scrutinised by the public who became obsessed with the idea peddled by her attacker’s defence team that the entire incident had been a PR stunt to further her career.
Speaking to Christine Lampard on Lorraine, Ayling said: “It’s always people who don’t know the facts. They judge too quickly and jump in before knowing the full story. You can never get offended by it really, because they don’t know.”
Ayling appeared on the ITV morning programme ahead of the release of her new BBC documentary My Unbelievable Kidnapping, which is set to air on BBC Three at 9pm tonight (Monday 4 August).
Of relieving the ordeal for the TV series, Ayling said: “I thought it would be easy. I’m really not good at talking about my feelings. I had to relive it again and I got emotional about things I hadn’t before.”
When asked how the backlash to her retelling of the incident had affected her in the past, she said she was “constantly” having to speak about her kidnapper’s “crazy decisions” as if they were her own.
“It was my calmness that saved me,” Ayling explained of the reason she initially appeared calm in interviews and CCTV footage. “I had to get him on side to be able to get out.”
She added of her forthcoming documentary: “I want to show a victim doesn’t have to fit into a typical box to be believed.”
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Ayling’s kidnappers – Polish brothers Lukasz and Michal Herba – falsely told her that she had been kidnapped by a Romanian criminal gang called the Black Death.
After realised that one of the brothers was infatuated by her, she convinced him she might one day be his girlfriend – an act of deception that may very well have saved her life.
However, the false claim became the dominant narrative in the story. Ayling’s body language and media interviews were intensely scrutinised as she was treated as a suspect rather than the victim she was.
But Ayling’s recounting of the kidnapping remained consistent, and Lukasz was eventually jailed for 16 years and nine months. His brother Michal, who was also sentenced to 16 years behind bars, has since been released following an appeal.
