Seven months after Tortoise Media brought sexual abuse allegations against Neil Gaiman to light in July 2024, a formal lawsuit has finally been filed against the author. Variety reports that Scarlett Pavlovich, the New Zealand babysitter who claimed Gaiman sexually abused her within hours of their first meeting in 2020, is accusing the author of repeated rape. The suit also names Gaiman's wife, Dresden Dolls singer Amanda Palmer, claiming she was aware of Gaiman's history of sexual misconduct. Both Gaiman and Palmer are being accused of human trafficking.
Pavlovich was the first woman whose story was featured on the Tortoise Media reports, but many horrifying new details of what she went through were revealed just last month in a deeply disturbing exposé in New York Magazine. She was hired by Palmer to watch her and Gaiman's young son in 2020, when Gaiman and Palmer were living in separate homes in New Zealand. Pavlovich worked solely for Palmer for around a year and a half before she was asked to watch the child at Gaiman's house as well. Within hours of going to Gaiman's residence for the first time, the author convinced her to use an outdoor bathtub on his property while he claimed to go take a business call, only to return naked and begin initiating unwanted sexual acts. Afterward, Pavlovich recalled Gaiman saying, “Amanda told me I couldn’t have you," and that once his estranged wife tried to place this boundary, he “knew he had to have” her.
Pavlovich was in her early 20s at the time. Gaiman was 61.
"This claim arises out of Defendant Neil Gaiman’s sexual abuse of Plaintiff, and his wife Amanda Palmer’s role in procuring and presenting Plaintiff to Gaiman for such abuse,” states the filing against Gaiman. “Gaiman has a decades-long history of sexual misconduct consistent with the actions that will be described in the following paragraphs." According to Deadline, the "following paragraphs" hew very closely to the sorts of details described in the New York Magazine report, which contained allegations from Pavlovich as well as seven other women who had similar experiences with the author.
The lawsuit is being filed in three separate states: Wisconsin, where Gaiman has a residence; as well as New York and Massachusetts, since Palmer has ties to those states which put her under both their jurisdiction. It is seeking at least $1 million in damages and a jury trial.
“Palmer was sufficiently aware that Gaiman was likely to target Scarlett, that she warned Gaiman to stay away from Scarlett before she brought Scarlett to Gaiman’s house as a babysitter,” reads the filing submitted in New York and Massachusetts. “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 gives Palmer the choice of which state the case will be pursued in; it will "proceed against Palmer only in the district of her choosing.” Palmer and Gaiman are currently in the middle of lengthy and fraught divorce, which has been ongoing since late 2022.
For Gaiman's part, he dismissed these accusations in a tepid response to the New York Magazine article, writing on his blog that he didn't "accept that any abuse happened" and his encounters with these women were entirely consensual. We'll see what the court thinks.
Neil Gaiman may not escape the ramifications of these allegations after all
Since these allegations first broke, one large question which has loomed is whether Gaiman would face any sort of actual repercussions. Gaiman is an extremely influential and wealthy figure, and that has made it difficult for these allegations to gain traction; part of the reason that the initial allegations were broken by the start-up Tortoise Media is because other news outlets reportedly didn't want to touch them.
At this point, it's starting to feel like Gaiman may not escape this unscathed. This lawsuit is making headlines in a major way, largely thanks to New York Magazine's extensive reporting on the Gaiman allegations. Several screen adaptations of Gaiman's works have had the plug pulled, including The Graveyard Book and Good Omens, the latter of which had its third and final season chopped down to a 90-minute film which is being made without Gaiman's involvement. The Sandman has also been canceled at Netflix, though the streamer was reportedly already planning for that outcome before the allegations against Gaiman came to light. A UK production of Coraline has also been canceled. On the book front, Dark Horse Comics announced they will no longer be publishing a graphic novel adaptation of Gaiman's novel Anansi Boys.
According to Deadline, Gaiman's interests in television and film were represented by agents at Casarotto Ramsay & Associates; the agency has quietly removed Gaiman from their website, which previously featured trailers for his screen work. Gaiman is represented by Writers House for books; so far, his literary agents have not responded to requests for comments from multiple outlets about whether they intend to continue representing him.
All this is to say, there is mounting pressure on Gaiman and the companies which are profiting off his work thanks to these heinous allegations. Time will tell how it all shakes out. For now, our thoughts go out to the victims, and we hope that some sort of justice and closure can be found.
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