Piers Morgan Is the Real Villain of 'Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story'

For those who may not know, Chloe Ayling was a little-known model lured to Milan in 2017 with the promise of a modeling job, only to be drugged, stuffed in a suitcase, and held captive for six days by Lukasz Herba. He told her he worked for a dark-web group that planned to auction her into sex slavery, and that only he could save her — but only if she paid a ransom. Ayling believed him and thought the only way to avoid being sold or killed was to befriend him, gain his trust and sympathy, and convince him to free her in exchange for her promise not to reveal his identity.

It worked. Six days after her abduction, Ayling was released to the British consulate in Milan, where Herba was apprehended outside. He was later tried, convicted, and sentenced to over 15 years in prison by an Italian court (his brother was also convicted). There was no dark-web group; Herba had invented it to convince Ayling to pay the ransom.

This should be an open-and-shut case: a terrible, traumatizing ordeal with an ending that, if not happy, is at least satisfying. The model used what she had at his disposal — her charm, warmth, and attractiveness - to persuade her captor to free her, after which he was sentenced to prison.

But then there was Piers Morgan. *long sigh* Piers f**king Morgan.

The thing about Ayling is that she remained composed during the 10-hour questioning by Italian authorities (who, by the way, believed her). And when she returned to England, she was calm and composed as she shared her story with the press. But models who were drugged, kidnapped, and held for six days aren’t supposed to be calm and composed. That’s suspicious to men. Models who endure that are supposed to break down and cry, so men can call them hysterical.

During her ordeal, Lukasz Herba — Ayling’s kidnapper — took her to buy a pair of shoes. Because she didn’t have any shoes. And because he liked her. Because Ayling wanted him to like her. So that he wouldn’t kill her or sell her into sex slavery. But when the British press found out she had gone shopping with her kidnapper, they lost their damn minds, theorizing that the kidnapping was staged and that she had been working with him the entire time.

And this is where Piers Morgan comes in. When Chloe Ayling appeared on his breakfast show to talk about her ordeal, he spent the interview interrogating her about the shopping trip, why she hadn’t mentioned it to Italian police, and strongly insinuating that she had concocted the entire story to make money from chat shows and book sales. After the interview, the British public became even more skeptical of Ayling’s story, and Piers Morgan led the charge.

During his trial, Lukasz Herba basically adopted that defense. He echoed the British tabloids, claiming the two knew each other and that the whole thing was an elaborate ruse to collect a ransom. He leaned on public skepticism and supposed inconsistencies in her story, never mind that his entire account contradicted the evidence. He hadn’t even collected a ransom because she had no money. Why would Ayling participate in a blackmail scheme against herself when neither she nor anyone around her had the means to pay?

And the reason she was so calm and collected, Piers, is because she was trying to survive. She stayed composed to save her life (and also perhaps because she was later diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Piers).

What I’m saying is: the tabloid press is awful. Piers Morgan is a special kind of awful. This entire story is depicted in Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story, licensed from the BBC by AMC in America. It’s currently streaming. It’s OK, although Nadia Parkes is so convincing as Chloe Ayling that when the series occasionally switches between Parkes and the real Ayling, I could barely tell the difference. I didn’t know this story, so I found it fascinating, frustrating, and enraging. Hell is too good for Piers Morgan.

Also, here’s the real interview between Ayling and Piers Morgan (the one in the series is basically the same, only Robert Glenister plays Piers Morgan—he’s brilliantly vile, I might add).