Horrific New Details Emerge of Sex Abuse Allegations Against Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman attends an LA Gala in Los Angeles in January 2024.
Andrew Toth / WireImage/Getty Images

A bombshell report has laid bare horrifying details of sexual assault allegations leveled at one of the world’s most celebrated fantasy novelists.

Neil Gaiman, whose books are estimated to have sold more than 45 million copies throughout his decades-long career, was first accused of sexual abuse last summer in Master: The Allegations of Neil Gaiman, a podcast produced for U.K. publication Tortoise Media, which featured claims from five of the novelist’s accusers.

Others have since come forward with their own allegations, which form the basis of a new long read published Monday by New York magazine’s Vulture. The piece largely centers on the story of Scarlett Pavlovich, who was 22 years old and studying drama in Auckland when she met Gaiman’s now ex-wife Amanda Palmer and later went on to become babysitter to the former couple’s son.

Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman onstage in 2017. / Lorne Thomson / Redferns/Getty Images
Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman onstage in 2017. / Lorne Thomson / Redferns/Getty Images

Pavlovich alleges that she was first sexually assaulted by Gaiman, 64, at his home in the New Zealand city in 2022, after he allegedly invited her to take a bath alone in the tub at the end of his garden, and where he soon joined her himself.

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“He put his fingers straight into my a-- and tried to put his penis in my a--,” Pavlovich told Vulture. “And I said, ‘No, no.’ Then he tried to rub his penis between my breasts, and I said ‘no’ as well. Then he asked if he could c-- on my face, and I said ‘no’ but he did it anyway.”

“He said, ‘Call me ‘master,’ and I’ll c--,’” she added. “He said, ‘Be a good girl. You’re a good little girl.”

Pavlovich says that when she eventually told Palmer about the alleged abuse, Palmer told her that she’d heard from at least 14 other women who said they’d had similar experiences with Gaiman, author of The Sandman and American Gods, in the past.

Gaiman has denied the allegations against him, and his representatives told Vulture the accusations in its report were “false, not to mention, deplorable” and rejected the claim that the relationships detailed in the report were in any way non-consensual.

Pavlovich told Vulture that continued to work as a babysitter for the former couple, during which time the alleged abuse continued.

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On one occasion, Pavlovich claims Gaiman attempted to initiate unlubricated anal sex with her while she was stood in his kitchen. When she screamed “no,” she says he left only to return moments later with a slab of butter. Other times, Pavlovich claims to have passed out from the pain of having anal sex with Gaiman.

During another incident, she said, he “thrust his penis into her mouth with such force that she vomited on him. Then he told her to eat the vomit off his lap and lick it up from the couch.”

One night, Pavlovich says she was invited to join Gaiman and his son at a hotel in Auckland. Once there, Pavlovich claims Gaiman took her under the covers and initiated sex with her from behind while continuing to speak to the child, who had remained in the room.

The Daily Beast has reached out to Neil Gaiman for comment on the new allegations.