January 14, 2025 | 3:39pm
Trigger warning: Details of sexual assault
MANILA, Philippines — A number of woman have come forward accusing author Neil Gaiman of sexual assault.
Allegations emerged last year when the author was accused of sexual assault by two women and in a Tortoise Media podcast by five women using pseudonyms.
Gaiman denied the allegations following the podcast’s release, claiming all relations were consensual.
Representatives for the author even said that “sexual degradation, bondage, domination, sadism and masochism may not be to everyone’s taste, but between consenting adults, BDSM is lawful.”
Now reporter Lila Shapiro, in the piece “There Is No Safe Word” for New York Magazine, spoke to eight women — including four who were part of the podcast — with such experiences with Gaiman.
The women interviewed all said they called him “master” as he wanted but alleged some consent and specific BDSM activities were not agreed upon beforehand.
One of the women named Scarlett Pavlovich was babysitting Gaiman’s child with ex-wife Amanda Palmer in New Zealand where she alleged the author joined her naked in his garden’s claw-foot tub asked for her to sit on his lap and sexually assaulted her.
Pavlovich claimed in detail what Gaiman did to her despite her repeated declines, “He said, ‘Call me ‘master,’ and I’ll come.’ He said, ‘Be a good girl. You’re a good little girl.'”
Such encounters continued during her babysitting stint, including one where she claimed Gaiman tried to have anal sex with her butter as a lubricant, ordering her to “clean up” afterwards.
In another, Pavlovich said Gaiman had sex with her while his son was in the room, which had her in a “state of shock.”
Pavlovich and another woman signed nondisclosure agreements, the latter having worked on Gaiman’s Woodstock property and started a physical relationship with him after her husband left her in end-2017.
“He didn’t have boundaries,” the woman said. “I remember thinking that there was something really wrong with him.”
Gaiman’s representatives said the woman, not the author, initiated sexual encounters and denied any sexual activity with her in the presence of his son.
One woman, Kendra Stout, said Gaiman raped her during a trip while another, Katherine Kendall, said the author tried to assault her in his tour bus and Gaiman years later gave money for therapy to “make up for the damage,” and a fifth woman said she and Gaiman had a sexual encounter at a horror convention.
A number of projects adapting Gaiman’s works have been affected since the Tortoise Media podcast.
Disney halted production on its “The Graveyard Book” film, Netflix canceled its “Dead Boy Detectives” series, and Prime Video’s third season of “Good Omens” will instead end with a single 90-minute episode.
Another Prime Video project “Anansi Boys” is still expected to come out later this year, as will the second season of Netflix’s “The Sandman.”
Other popular books by Gaiman include “Coraline” and “American Gods.”
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Victims of sexual abuse can report cases to the CHR Citizens’ Help and Assistance Division through the following contact details:
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