Mom who famously claimed she was kidnapped by aliens says Netflix made her appear like a liar in new docuseries | EUROtoday

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A New York City mom of two who shared her controversial story of being kidnapped by aliens from her downtown condo in an upcoming Netflix docuseries says the streaming large ended up portraying her as a fabulist — and now she’s combating to dam the present’s launch.

Linda Napolitano, who first instructed her story beneath the pseudonym Linda Cortile, has lengthy claimed three grey bipedal beings extracted her through the wee hours of November 30, 1989, from her Twelfth-floor window on a blue beam of sunshine, lifting her onto a reddish-orange spacecraft that rapidly sped off towards the Brooklyn Bridge.

Late artist-turned-UFO investigator Budd Hopkins championed Napolitano’s story within the 1997 guide Witnessed: The True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge Abductionproducing widespread curiosity and, naturally, some skepticism. Hopkins stated he turned additional satisfied Napolitano was telling the reality after he obtained a letter from two bodyguards who stated they’d been close by defending an unnamed “world leader” once they noticed a lady floating by means of the night time sky into an alien spacecraft. More than 20 different witnesses claimed that they, too, witnessed Napolitano’s purported abduction.

Now, Napolitano, 77, is making an attempt to dam Netflix from releasing its tackle the supposed incident, The Manhattan Alien Abductionset to premiere on Wednesday, claiming it presents “a tale of skepticism” and an examination of Napolitano’s “pulling the wool over [Hopkins’s] eyes,” fairly than a credulous recitation of her claims, based on an eyepopping lawsuit obtained by The Independent.

Linda Napolitano, as seen in “The Manhattan Alien Abduction,” which she is suing to block from being released
Linda Napolitano, as seen in “The Manhattan Alien Abduction,” which she is suing to dam from being launched (Netflix)

“A woman claims to have been abducted from her bedroom in Manhattan,” a Netflix promo reads. “This docuseries explores whether it was an elaborate hoax — or proof of alien life.”

In an electronic mail, an appreciative Napolitano appeared keen to offer additional particulars of the scenario however stated, “Apparently, my attorney doesn’t want me to comment,” and supplied his electronic mail and telephone quantity.

Reached by telephone on Tuesday, lawyer Robert Young instructed The Independent that Napolitano was “egregiously deceived,” and would by no means have participated within the manufacturing if she knew how it could in the end prove.

“So, we’ll see,” Young stated. “Litigation is a long war, many battles, and I have every confidence that we will eventually prevail.”

Netflix didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Napolitano, her criticism alleges, was defamed onscreen by Hopkinslate ex-wife, who she alleges is an “embittered, alcoholic ex-wife hell bent on revenge against her husband.”

This mini-series was the ex’s “last dying act of retribution to get even with her ex-husband, rather than exhibit the actual truth as investigated and written about… in Witnessed,” based on the criticism, which was filed Monday in New York State Supreme Court.

Budd Hopkins performing hypnosis on an “abductee"
Budd Hopkins performing hypnosis on an “abductee” (Creative Commons 4.0)

Hopkins’s ex was said to have been bothered by her husband’s “failure to heed discrediting elements” of Napolitano’s story. In 2011, Hopkins’s ex-wife published an article debunking the idea of alien abductions and lambasted his research methodology. To that end, psychiatrists who have studied the phenomenon say there are numerous reasons people might believe they were abducted by aliens, such as those suffering from Fantasy Prone Personality disorder, or sexual assault survivors creating so-called screen memories to block out the trauma of what they endured.

The London-based producers of the film, Napolitano’s complaint argues, assured her that they were planning to tell “the truthful story of the abduction of Linda,” as laid out in the pages of Hopkins’s book. This, according to the complaint, led Napolitano, who says she had long been reluctant to appear on film, to believe her version of events “would, in fact, finally be presented.”

However, Napolitano insists, she was misled from the get-go. The producers went forward with a different version of what she agreed to, instead setting up Hopkins’s ex as “an expert ‘skeptic’ in this field.” Her questioning of Napolitano’s account served only to “cast aspersions” on her, with “scripted dialogue” supporting what she says amounted to a false narrative, the complaint states, taking further aim at the “unflattering and denigrating” costumes Napolitano was given to wear onscreen.

Hopkins’s ex-wife, according to Napolitano’s complaint, provided the filmmakers with his personal papers, notes, and videos about her supposed abduction, but also “forged a letter… wherein she asserted [Napolitano] said the entire incident was a hoax.” But Napolitano alleges that Hopkins’s ex, who died in 2023, “stole” the materials he had about her case after the two separated but were still living in the same home. (The two divorced in 2006.)

Napolitano says she never would have participated in the project had she known the producers would be relying upon “false representations” of what she insists happened to her, and that they preyed upon her naivete about moviemaking to get her to cooperate. She didn’t realize anything was amiss until an associate attended a mid-September screening of the miniseries in the UK, the complaint states.

Among other things, Napolitano’s complaint takes issue with her being shown “in a grotesque and unusual fashion, in unflattering clothes that were not her own style of dress, making her up to appear old and haggard, and having her hair set in an unusual fashion not her own, thus all done to her not appearing as her own self, but as a caricature, an almost cartoonish-like character.” She claims she was forced to read from a script, and made out to be a liar, based on the confession she now insists she never made.

(Netflix)

In her criticism, Napolitano argues she was arrange as a “villain for purposes of controversy and conflict,” supporting a story she says will “subject her to shame and ridicule and destroy her reputation as an honest and decent person who experienced the abduction and only agreed to have this documentary of her experience be truthfully told… for the very first time.”

Napolitano is claiming defamation and fraud, with punitive and exemplary damages to be decided in courtroom. She insists the ultimate consequence was “patently false,” and that the producers by no means meant on “present[ing] a documentary ‘based upon a true story.’” In all, Napolitano’s criticism claims, their conduct was “reckless, fraudulent, oppressive, and despicable,” and if the miniseries is launched, “no compensation” might probably undo the reputational harm she would endure.

Napolitano is demanding a decide problem a restraining order to dam Netlifx from airing The Manhattan Alien Abductionmaking any public feedback or issuing any press releases as to why it was canceled, or posting any explanations to social media. Napolitano’s attorneys stated a call is anticipated on Wednesday.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/netflix-manhattan-alien-abduction-ufo-linda-napolitano-b2637980.html