Woman who was kidnapped to be sold on the dark web reveals one thing that allowed her to escape
The story of Chloe Ayling is a shocking reminder of how life can sometimes imitate art.
Like a real-life version of Pierre Morel's Taken, Ayling found herself in a harrowing situation where she was drugged and abducted back in 2017.
The problem is, there was no Liam Neeson to come and save her.
Ayling's story has previously been covered in BBC Three's Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story, but even eight years on, there are still those who don't believe her.
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Things went awry when Ayling said she was booked by her agent, Philip Green, for a photoshoot in Paris.
Hired by someone called 'Andre Lazio', the shoot was cancelled due to the Champs-Élysées boulevard terror attack, although Andre soon rebooked her for a different shoot in Milan, Italy.
Chloe maintains that she flew to Italy as planned, but just one day later, she went to the supposed location of the photoshoot and says she was drugged and kidnapped.
Ayling has revealed further details in a new BBC docuseries, titled Chloe Ayling: My Unbelievable Kidnapping.
Being held hostage for several days, Chloe was told she'd been taken by a criminal organization known as 'The Black Death' and was going to be sold as a sex slave on the dark web.
When Ayling's captor (known as 'MD') informed Green that it would cost €300,000 ($346,000 in 2025) to return her, he turned to the British and Italian police for help. Despite questions over the legitimacy of her kidnapping, the authorities soon realized it was a real threat.
Chloe's new documentary explains how she had to get herself out of the situation, remaining calm when faced with MD/Lazio – later identified as Łukasz Herba.
Describing the moment things 'changed' between her and MD, Ayling said: "I always remained calm. With anything that happens, it's like, so this has happened, and what can I do about this? If the answer is nothing and it's out of my control, then I have to just accept it."
Facing up to the idea that panicking would have made things worse, Ayling added: "In that moment, I knew I needed to rely on myself, and that was when I got the first ever inkling that he liked me in any way.
"I had no clue before. I thought maybe he liked me as a person because I was not throwing a fit, but this was the first time I thought 'wow, things have changed'."
When Herba tried to kiss her, she said she made excuses about not wanting to, but managed to keep him on her side. Six days after her kidnapping, she convinced him to release her, with Herba taking Ayling to the Milan consulate.
Herba eventually admitted he was inspired by the movie By Any Means, and in 2018, he was handed a sentence of 16 years and nine months in prison.
Even though there are still those who've accused Ayling of using her ordeal to profit through documentaries, a written memoir, and appearing on Celebrity Big Brother, she's trying to raise awareness about her traumatic tale.