Multiple women add detail to Neil Gaiman sexual assault allegations

This article contains descriptions of sexual assault. 

There’s a new report in Vulture further detailing allegations of sexual assault against Neil Gaiman. Stories of misconduct previously surfaced in the summer of 2024 in a podcast called Master, and the allegations affected adaptations of Gaiman’s work in development or production to varying degrees. Vulture has interviewed four of the women who initially came forward, as well as four others who had similar stories: “Most of the women were in their 20s when they met Gaiman. The youngest was 18. Two of them worked for him. Five were his fans. With one exception, … the stories take place when Gaiman was in his 40s or older.” (Gaiman’s team did not immediately respond to The A.V. Club‘s request for comment.)

The allegations—most of which Gaiman has denied, saying his relationships were all consensual—range from upsetting to horrifying. Gaiman reportedly engaged in BDSM practices without any of the communication or negotiation required to make those experiences safe, sane, and consensual. He allegedly demanded partners call him “master” and he would call them “slave.” Partners who did engage in nominally consensual relationships with the writer recall him being excessively rough even when they told him they didn’t like it; multiple women shared stories of his insisting on penetration without lubrication. One woman he had a sexual relationship with explained to Vulture that there was “never a ‘blatant rupture of consent’ but that he was always pressing her to do things that hurt and scared her.” Multiple women describe Gaiman assaulting them after they had said “no,” two of whom later filed police reports against him. 

Most disturbingly, two of the women claim to have been assaulted while Gaiman’s son was present. Caroline, who came forward with her allegations on the podcast, told Vulture that she once fell asleep in bed with his four-year-old son while babysitting, and when Gaiman returned home he reached over and put Caroline’s hand over his penis while his son was still sleeping in the same bed. (Representatives for Gaiman “deny that he engaged in any sexual activity with her in the presence of his son.”) Gaiman’s former nanny, Scarlett Pavlovich, claims that Gaiman groped her breasts while his son was in the room and once, when the three of them were in a hotel room together, he had sex with her under a blanket while his son played on an iPad nearby, to her immense discomfort. Pavlovich further alleges that Gaiman then went to the bathroom, urinated on his hand, and then ordered her to “lick it off.” She says that while she was nannying, the young boy began calling her “slave” and told her to call him “master.” 

Gaiman’s reps said Pavlovich’s allegations are “false, not to mention, deplorable.” Pavlovich informed Gaiman’s ex and co-parent Amanda Palmer of the hotel incident, among other aggressive sexual encounters (Pavlovich did not yet term anything sexual assault), and Palmer promised to “take care” of her. When Pavlovich went to the police Palmer did not speak to investigators, nor did she invite Pavlovich back as nanny, despite Pavlovich’s tenuous financial situation. (She received just $1,700 for her babysitting work after the fact, and $9,200 for signing an NDA.) However, Gaiman’s representatives now allege that Palmer “was a ‘major force’ driving this story in light of their contentious divorce,” per Vulture. You can read the entire story here.