Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story Questions and Theories

In an interview with Piers Morgan, newly freed abductee Chloe Ayling claims she wouldn’t be subjected to such scrutiny from the press “if I was a 30-year-old woman and not a model.” Netflix documentary American Nightmare (where a 29-year-old woman was abducted and then accused of making it all up) indicates that’s not necessarily the case, but she has a point. Her job, her age and her class all played a part in her mistreatment.

In 2017, when she was just 20 years old, model Chloe Ayling was booked for a photoshoot in Milan. When she arrived though, she was kidnapped and drugged with ketamine by two masked men. She was handcuffed, bundled into a duffel bag in the boot of a car and driven to a remote farm house outside of the city and told by her captor that she was being held by a gang called Black Death who wanted to auction her to a sex trafficker.

But that was really only the start of her ordeal even though Chloe escaped and survived she would go on to be accused by the press of faking the whole thing to gain publicity. Nadia Parkes plays Chloe in Kidnapped: the Chloe Ayling Story, having spent time with the real Chloe including getting her voice and mannerisms down to a tee. But how could this happen and why?

Why was Chloe Ayling kidnapped?

Initially Chloe was booked for a shoot in Paris arranged by Łukasz Herba and his brother Michał, but they didn’t take her at that location and canceled the shoot. The fake Milan shoot was arranged after. The motive appears to have been money, as Łukasz originally told Chloe she’d be auctioned to sex traffickers and later released if she paid her own ransome, after Łukasz developed feelings for her. Why exactly the brothers choose this particular model isn’t clear.

What is noteworthy is how Chloe is asked to account for their actions – being asked “why her?”, and “what was going through Łukasz’ head?”. As we see in the show – she doesn’t know and it’s frankly insulting and ridiculous that she would be asked that question.

How did Chloe escape?

She became aware that Łukasz was attracted to her. She also genuinely believed that he was showing her kindness and protecting her from the Mafia-like gang Black Death who were surveilling her. Łukasz eventually let Chloe go, dropping her at the British consulate, under the agreement she would pay her own ransome. Initially Chloe described Łukasz as her friend but it became apparent quickly that he was not and she told people at the consulate what had happened to her.

Why did she shop with Łukasz and hold his hand?

Because she thought he was being kind to her and that he was her best bet of making it out of this ordeal alive. The implication that they might be together romantically after Chloe left likely played a part in his decision to release her. She thought if she tried to escape during the shopping trip she would turn Łukasz against her and put herself at greater risk from Black Death.

In Chloe’s words: “While nothing happened physically between us, I used his vulnerability and convinced him that it could and that we could be a couple if he released me. So the kindness was natural, but the romance was not.”

Why did she lie to police about the trip?

She was afraid. In the words of Georgia Lester who wrote the series:

“I think it’s important to understand that she was coerced, and being compliant saved her life. That’s why she didn’t ask for help when she was taken to a nearby village during her time in captivity. She was so brainwashed by the man who kidnapped her, that it was her fear of the police that prompted her to lie in her police interview, and not that she had anything to hide.”

Why did the press accuse her of lying about the kidnapping?

The short answer is sexism. One of the things this drama clearly illustrates is how some people – parts of the press, strangers on social media, armchair detectives – want to police what someone’s trauma should look like. Chloe’s outfit was criticized, she was criticized because she didn’t cry enough, or look upset enough. In reality Chloe had been in Italy for several weeks before coming back to the UK. She had already testified at a pre-trial and was happy to be back in her own country. She’s also very media trained and, according to her, just not someone who cries in front of people.

The same was true of Amanda Knox, when Italian police decided that she wasn’t grieving her murdered housemate Meredith Kercher correctly and therefore must be guilty of the crime.

Chloe was in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. She didn’t want to be identified but her case was reported in the press. She wanted control of her own narrative and was accused of lying for publicity, or if not out and out lying, exploiting the situation for her own gain, despite the fact that she was unable to work as a model and needed to make ends meet somehow.

Despite the fact Łukasz and Michał were found guilty of her kidnapping with plenty of evidence to show they did it and Łukasz’ story changing all the time (he accused her of plotting the kidnapping with him), Chloe still had people accusing her of lying, telling the BBC she still gets called a liar seven years on. As the show points out, much of this was occurring when the first accusations around Harvey Weinstein were surfacing.

What happened next?

Chloe published a book, which Georgia Lester read, inspiring the show. Chloe appeared on Celebrity Big Brother, and was the second to be voted out that season.

Łukasz was sentenced to 16 years and nine months in prison, which was later reduced to 12 years and 1 month, while Michał was sentenced to 16 years and eight months which was later reduced to 5 years and 8 months – Michał is out of prison now.

Kidnapped: the Chloe Ayling story is available to stream on BBC iPlayer