Author Neil Gaiman raped babysitter in front of his 5-year-old son: Report

Acclaimed fantasy author Neil Gaiman is facing a fresh barrage of sexual assault allegations, with multiple women coming forward to detail their experiences in a recent New York magazine article titled ‘There Is No Safe Word’.

Eight women have shared their accounts of alleged assault, coercion, or abuse by Gaiman, including Scarlett Pavlovich, who worked as a nanny for Gaiman and his ex-wife, Amanda Palmer.

Pavlovich alleged that Gaiman assaulted her on multiple occasions, starting from the first day she began babysitting their 5-year-old child in 2022. She was 22 at the time.

'CALL ME MASTER'

According to Pavlovich, the first alleged attack occurred when Gaiman joined her in a bathtub at his New Zealand home.

"He said, 'Call me 'master'...Be a good girl. You're a good little girl,'" Pavlovich recounted, describing how Gaiman physically assaulted her despite her objections.

As she continued to work for the family, Pavlovich described enduring further sexual assaults. She alleged incidents of forcible oral and anal sex, some so painful that she fainted. She also claimed Gaiman coerced her into degrading acts, including ingesting her own waste.

In one instance, she alleged that Gaiman had sex with her in a hotel room while his son was present; the attack left her in a "state of shock".

A TORTUROUS RELATIONSHIP

Other women have also levelled similar allegations. Kendra Stout, who began a relationship with Gaiman in 2003 when she was 18. "He talked at length about the dominant and submissive relationship he wanted out of me," Stout told New York magazine.

Her sexual encounters with Gaiman were “torturous” and sometimes, non-consensual. In one instance, he penetrated her digitally even after she told him she had a painful urinary tract infection.

Another accuser, Katherine Kendall, recalled an incident in 2012 where the author allegedly forced himself on her on his tour bus.

Gaiman has denied all allegations, asserting through his legal representatives that all relations were consensual and calling Pavlovich’s allegations "false, not to mention, deplorable".

THE FALLOUT

The latest revelations follow a July 2024 podcast series by Tortoise Media titled “Master”, which featured accounts from two women accusing Gaiman of sexual assault.

Since then, the allegations against the once-celebrated author have continued to mount, leading to significant fallout in his professional life. Several TV adaptations of his work, including The Graveyard Book, The Sandman, and the third season of Good Omens, have been cancelled or curtailed.

Author JK Rowling has also weighed in, calling out the literary community's for its silence on the allegations against Gaiman.

"The literary crowd that had a hell of a lot to say about Harvey Weinstein before he was convicted has been strangely muted in its response to multiple accusations against Neil Gaiman from young women who'd never met, yet - as with Weinstein - tell remarkably similar stories," the Harry Potter creator wrote on X.