Women including Gaiman and ex-wife Amanda Palmer’s former babysitter spoke about their alleged experiences in a Jan. 13 Vulture report
More women have come forward with sexual assault allegations against author Neil Gaiman. The celebrated fantasy author is best known for properties like The Sandman, Good Omens and Coraline.
In a Jan. 13 Vulture report, multiple women spoke on the record about their alleged experiences with the famed novelist, 64, including Scarlett Pavlovich, who formerly babysat for Gaiman and his ex-wife Amanda Palmer.
Pavlovich told Vulture writer Lila Shapiro that she and Palmer, who Gaiman married in 2011, had been friends since Pavlovich was 22. Palmer asked Pavlovich to babysit her and Gaiman’s son at Gaiman’s Waiheke Island home in New Zealand. The couple was separated at the time.
Pavlovich alleged that she and Gaiman were alone in the house as they waited for his son to end a playdate. Gaiman suggested that Pavlovich take a bath. Pavlovich claimed that while she was in the bathtub, Gaiman joined her, naked.
Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer. Dave Benett/WireImage
“I said ‘no,'” Pavlovich relayed. “I said, ‘I’m not confident with my body. He said, ‘It’s okay — it’s only me. Just relax. Just have a chat.’”
Pavlovich alleged that Gaiman “put his fingers straight into my a–.” The author then allegedly “tried to rub his penis between my breasts,” and ejaculated on her face.
“He said ‘‘Call me ‘master,’ and I’ll come,’” Pavlovich said. “He said, ‘Be a good girl. You’re a good little girl.’”
Pavlovich claimed that throughout her time babysitting for the family, Gaiman continued to assault her, including one instance where she had to endure anal sex using butter as a lubricant. Pavlovich also noted that Gaiman’s son began to address her as a “slave” and ordered her to call him “master.” Later, at a hotel, Gaiman allegedly had sex with Pavlovich while the child was still in the room.
The author was first accused of sexual assault in July 2023, when British podcast Master posted six episodes centered on the sexual assault allegations against Gaiman from five different women.
Neil Gaiman in Jan. 2024. Phillip Faraone/Getty
A woman, identified as Caroline on the show, told Vulture that she and her husband, Phillip, lived and worked as caretakers at Gaiman and Palmer’s home in Woodstock, N.Y. After Phillip moved out, Caroline and Gaiman started a physical relationship, and occasionally had phone sex.
Caroline recalled that one evening, she fell asleep reading to Gaiman’s son, then 4, in Gaiman and Palmer’s bed. When the author returned home, he allegedly got into the bed with his son still in it, reached over him and placed Caroline’s hand on Gaiman’s penis.
“He didn’t have boundaries,” Caroline recalled. “I remember thinking that there was something really wrong with him.”
Multiple other women spoke with Vulture for the cover story, including Katherine Kendall, who met Gaiman in 2012 when she was 22, and alleged that Gaiman attempted to have sex with her on his tour bus (Gaiman gave Kendall $60,000 afterward, for her to begin therapy and “make up for the damage”). Kendra Stout, who met Gaiman at a book signing when she was 18, alleged that the author raped her in 2007.
Neil Gaiman in Aug. 2022. Jeff Spicer/Getty
Caroline claimed that, in December 2021, Gaiman’s business manager offered her $5,000 if she signed an NDA and moved off Gaiman’s Woodstock property. Pavlovich, who stayed in contact with Gaiman for a period, eventually signed an NDA too, and was given $9,200 in separate payments. Pavlovich filed a police report against Gaiman in January 2023, but due to both Gaiman and Palmer’s refusal to speak to authorities (Gaiman did provide a written statement), the case was closed, Vulture reported.
Gaiman has denied all allegations since 2023. The author, who has numerous TV adaptations of his books in the works, stepped back from production of the third season of Prime Video’s Good Omens adaptation.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.