CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses sexual assault, sexual abuse, and rape.
After months of disturbing allegations of sexual misconduct, author Neil Gaiman is facing a fresh round of allegations of sexual abuse and human trafficking with a new lawsuit filed in the US Federal Court.
The Coraline and American Gods creator has been accused of assault, coercion, or abuse by at least eight women over the last 12 months.
Four women initially came forward in the middle of 2024 on the podcast Master from Tortoise Media and last month, four additional women detailed instances of sexual assault in an explosive New York Magazine report.
This included Gaiman’s former employee Scarlett Pavlovich, who was hired by the author and his now-estranged wife Amanda Palmer to babysit their then five-year-old during a trip to New Zealand in 2022.
As reported by Vulture, Pavlovich has now named Gaiman in a lawsuit filed in the federal court on Monday under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, along with allegations of rape, coercion, assault, and sexual abuse.
The complaint also named Palmer for allegedly “procuring” her for Gaiman and failing to warn Pavlovich about his history of alleged sexual misconduct.
The lawsuit claims Gaiman’s alleged conduct was intended to “coerce sexual services and free childcare” and accuses his ex-wife Palmer of negligence. It suggests Palmer was “sufficiently aware” that Gaiman might “target” her, alleging she warned the author to stay away from Pavlovich before she arrived at the house to babysit.
“Yet Palmer never warned Scarlett of the known danger posed by Gaiman. Had Palmer warned Scarlett of the known danger posed by Gaiman, Scarlett would never have agreed to babysit Palmer’s child at Gaiman’s house,” the lawsuit allegedly states, per Vulture.
It is believed the couple did not pay Pavlovich until many months after her employment had ended and the lawsuit proposes she could be entitled to damages “reasonably believed to be in excess of $1,000,000”.
This, it explains, includes “damages to physical well-being, emotional and psychological damages, past and future economic losses, past and future physical impairment damages including but not limited to PTSD, anxiety, and depression of which are physical impairments of the brain, loss of career opportunities, together with punitive damages.”
Speaking to reporter Lila Shapiro at the New York Times on her alleged experiences with Gaiman, Pavlovich previously claimed the author joined her naked in a bath without asking while she was staying at their house and proceeded to sexually assault her.
She also alleged a separate incident occurred at a hotel in February 2022 where Gaiman began to have sex with her while his son was in the room on his iPad.
Per the report, Pavlovich confided in Palmer about the interactions, although she withheld some of the most brutal details and did not describe her experience as sexual assault.
“Fourteen women have come to me about this,” Palmer allegedly responded, per New York Magazine.
However, at a later instance when she was informed about the child being present in the room, the report described Palmer as “silent” and “shocked”.
“Palmer insisted that Pavlovich spend the night in her guest room. She told her, ‘I’ve had to do this before, and I can do this again. I will take care of you’,” it read.
Both Gaiman and Palmer have previously spoken out regarding the disturbing allegations, with Palmer calling for privacy and reminding the public that divorce proceedings with the author remain ongoing.
The couple married in January 2011 and announced their divorce in November 2022, two years prior to the initial allegations.
Gaiman has also vehemently denied the characterisation of events with the women.
“I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever,” he said in a statement published on his website last month.
“I went back to read the messages I exchanged with the women around and following the occasions that have subsequently been reported as being abusive. These messages read now as they did when I received them – of two people enjoying entirely consensual sexual relationships and wanting to see one another again.”
In his statement, the author emphasised there was no abuse in these relationships.
“As I reflect on my past – and as I re-review everything that actually happened as opposed to what is being alleged – I don’t accept there was any abuse. To repeat, I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone,” he said.
The fallout from the accusations in the past year has been understandably significant. A number of screen projects based on Gaiman’s work have already been cancelled or paused, including Disney’s film adaptation of his work The Graveyard Book.
Netflix series Dead Boy Detectives — based on DC comic characters of the same name co-authored by Gaiman — was cancelled after one season and another Netflix series The Sandman will now end after the second season, per Variety.
Moreover, US comics publisher Dark Horse Comics has cancelled plans to publish future works by the author and just last week, a stage version of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline was shelved.
Lead image: Paul Morigi/Getty Images for ReedPop
Help is available.
- If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.
- If you’d like to speak to someone about sexual violence, please call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online.
- Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
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