Chloe Ayling's undiagnosed condition that ‘explains so much' revealed 8 years after she was kidnapped & put in suitcase
A new BBC documentary that aired last night has shed light on the horrific episode as the British model says people still don't believe her story.
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When the model was 21, she was drugged and kidnapped after travelling to Milan, Italy, for a photoshoot.
Chloe Ayling has been accused by trolls online of staging her own kidnapping, in a horror which she says "never ends".
The outlandish events she described in addition to her unemotional retelling of the story sparked questions on whether it was all a publicity stunt.
Her heartbreaking documentary - entitled My Unbelievable Kidnapping - poses an interesting new theory.
It takes viewers through the terrifying mission to save the model from Herba's clutches, as well as her appearance on Big Brother just a year after being kidnapped.
Towards the end of the documentary, she receives a formal diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder which she said explained so much - not just about her reactions during her ordeal but about her life before and since.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental condition that affects how people communicate, interact with others, and behave.
"I had a lot of difficulties with communication,' she explains in the documentary, while poring over childhood pictures.
"I'd react in the wrong way. If I was being told off I would smile. I just had the wrong reactions to things.
"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.
"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."
Trolls claimed she lacked emotion after she delivered a statement from her mother's house.
She emerged from the house with a smile and dressed in a revealing vest top and tiny pair of shorts that seemed at odds with the seriousness of the situation.
Chloe, now 28, has spent years fighting to convince others about what happened.
Upon arriving at the "studio" on that day in 2017, she was driven to a remote warehouse in Truin by Lukasz Herba.
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Herba was a 30-year-old computer programmer from Oldbury, West Midlands, who held Chloe hostage for a week.
He was eventually arrested and jailed for his crime.
Despite Herba being jailed, the model revealed that she still faces backlash online for speaking out about his crime.
The documentary follows Chloe's recovery from the incident, as well as how she dealt with the scrutiny over a photograph of her shown holding her kidnapper's hand in an Italian village.
Speaking about how she remained so calm in CCTV footage, Chloe said: "I had to get him on side to be able to get out.
"I want to show a victim doesn't have to fit into a typical box to be believed."
A TV series dramatising the event was released on the BBC last year, entitled Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story.
It depicts how she was held in the farm house for six days, while her kidnapper demanded €300,000 (£265,000) in ransom money.
Herba and his brother Michael were eventually arrested though and handed 16-year prison sentences.
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