Can I tell you a secret?

Sirin is a wonderful interviewer and so very patient with Donna who is the most frustrating human I’ve ever listened to. Donna should be prosecuted for enabling her vindictive child and placing blame on victims. Matthew is an awful person who victimized hundreds of people for his own selfish needs Donna. The victim blaming by so many people in this story is infuriating. I’m so glad Matthew was sent to jail, finally. When Donna said she felt that victims should be more “subdued” during sentencing I wanted to put her through what her son put his victims through and then see how she responded. What. An. Awful. Selfish. Woman.

Was a decent listen until I found out they are pursuing someone with severe autism, that’s like making a podcasts about a kid who’s schizophrenic, he needs help fam not a podcast about him haha

Matthew is someone who hurt over 60 people but more attention is given to his recovery than to the recovery of his victims. The emotional and financial abuse he inflicted is downplayed in favor of solving his problems and blaming a system that didn’t provide enough oversight for people with stalking tendencies. In addition to manipulating his mother, he managed to manipulate the podcast creators into forgetting the people he substantially harmed.

This series grabbed me from the very beginning - Matthew Hardy’s actions against so many women and their friends, employers and families were insidious and devastating. While I understand that he was bullied in school and has special needs, it doesn’t excuse what he did to destroy these womens’ lives. So many horrible things can be done and said to others on social media, this scenario could easily happen to anyone. Absolutely horrifying.