Chloe Ayling has opened up about the reason why people may not believe she was ever kidnapped.
It's hard to believe how it's been eight years since the British glamour model was abducted during a fake photoshoot in Milan.
Aged just 20 at the time, she was drugged up with ketamine on arrival and was stuffed into a suitcase by Lukasz Herba, who posed as a photographer.
She was held captive for six days in a remote farmhouse near Turin, as Herba threatened to auction her off on the dark web for sex trafficking unless a €300,000 (£260,000) ransom was paid.
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During that time, however, the kidnapper started to develop feelings for Ayling, who managed to convince him to take her to the British consulate in Milan on 17 July 2017.
In June 2018, Herba was convicted and sentenced to 16 years and nine months for kidnapping and attempted extortion. His sentence was later reduced to 12 years and one month.
His brother, Michal Herba, was also convicted and sentenced to over five years, later released early.
Ayling's story has been retold in the new BBC docuseries Chloe Ayling: My Unbelievable Kidnapping.
In the series, she recalls how conspiracy theorists thought she faked the whole thing for a publicity stunt, pointing towards surveillance footage of Ayling calmly walking around with Herba and holding his hand.
Justifying her actions at the time, the model insisted that she was terrified and playing along to stay alive.
She also revealed her autism diagnosis in March 2025, which causes difficulties with communication and masking body language.
"My mum would come with me on school trips because I wouldn’t be able to say what I wanted or express how I was feeling," she said.
"For ages, I just said I’m not an emotional person, but now I realise that no matter now hard I try, I just can’t [express emotion].
"I can’t really be mad at people for not understanding, when I didn’t really understand it myself."
Ayling added: "Autism plays a big part in the way that I reacted, and that was confusing to neurotypical people.
"However, there are other reasons why people could react in the way that I did, or in an 'unusual' way that doesn’t fit the normal box.
"People disassociate with events that have happened or have a delayed reaction, especially after trauma. So, it can’t all be put down to a diagnosis, and that shouldn’t affect the way people treated me."
Chloe Ayling: My Unbelievable Kidnapping is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.
Topics: UK News, Celebrity, BBC, Documentaries
Anish Vij