Several women have joined the testimonies against fantasy writer and screenwriter Neil Gaiman, known among other works for the comic ‘The Sandman’, and have recounted their experiences of sexual abuse in a new article published by ‘New York Magazine’. ‘.
Gaiman is one of the most recognized fiction authors of his generation with works such as ‘Good Omens’ or ‘American Gods’, which have been brought to television. In July 2024 it was already pointed out by several women on the podcast ‘The Tortoise’. The extensive article published now includes the testimony of some of these women and adds new victims. Eight women tell their case to ‘New York Magazine’, but in total there are twelve who have accused the writer.
The stories coincide in describing rough sex and sadomasochistic practices that did not have explicit consent. The youngest victim was 18 years old and the rest were between 20 and 30 years old. With one exception, all the stories take place when the writer was 40 or older. Two of them worked for him and five were followers of his work. At least two of them claim that the attacks took place when Gaiman’s son, then a minor, was present.
One of the testimonies is that of Scarlett Pavlovich, who worked as a nanny for Gaiman and his ex-wife Amanda Palmer. Pavlovich tells several scenes of sexual relations without consent. The first was when, on the first day they met at his house, he told him to use a bathtub they had in the garden. He went after her, also got into the bathtub and asked her to stretch her legs and make herself “comfortable.” When he said no, he responded to “relax” and that they were just going to talk: “Don’t ruin the moment.”
Pavlovich claims, among other things, that he pressured her even though she told him that she had suffered sexual abuse in her adolescence and that she had not had sex. “He put his fingers up my ass and tried to put his penis in. I said: ‘no, no’ (…) He asked me if he could cum on my face, I told him no, but he did it anyway. He told me: ‘Call me master and I will cum.’” The young woman also says that another day he pushed her against the sofa and hit her with his belt. Then he tried to start anal sex without lubrication, she screamed “no” and he stopped to go to the kitchen to get butter. Pavlovich continued yelling until Gaiman finished. Afterwards, according to his story, he called her “slave” and asked her to clean him. “I had to lick my own shit.”
At least two of the victims reported the attacks to the police, as ‘New York Magazine’ has been able to verify with the authorities. Several of the victims have acknowledged having received financial compensation and signing confidentiality agreements. Pavlovich even told what happened to Amanda Palmer, Gaiman’s wife and the person responsible for hiring him as a nanny.
The article says that Pavlovich began to see everything from a different perspective when she stopped having contact with him. “As he faded, I began to hear other voices.” Several friends put her in touch with other women who had experience dealing with sexual abuse cases and encouraged her to go to the police.
After the accusations in ‘The Tortoise’, representatives of the writer defended that all the encounters were consensual and that “sexual degradation, slavery, domination, sadism and masochism may not be to everyone’s taste, but between consenting adults , BDSM is legal.”
Since several women accused the writer of assault in 2024, almost all of his audiovisual projects have been canceled, including the third season of “Good Omens” on Amazon Prime, which will end with a 90-minute episode.
Disney halted production on its film adaptation of “The Graveyard Book” and Netflix canceled “Dead Boy Detectives,” although it is unclear if it was related to the allegations.
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