Final yr, two ladies got here ahead to accuse Neil Gaiman of sexual assault and abuse in 2024, and since then, the extent of these allegations has been slowly revealed by way of extra reporting. The true stage of abuse is way extra disturbing than initially detailed, and the added layer of the alleged complicity of his ex-wife, musician Amanda Palmer, exhibits simply how a lot energy and management play an element in these conditions.
Warning: This text consists of mentions of sexual violence and assault.
Per a really detailed report from Vulture that features interviews with 4 of the 5 ladies who’ve gone public with allegations of assault, Gaiman’s strategies of abuse knew no bounds. One of many ladies, Scarlett Pavlovich, met Gaiman in New Zealand and finally grew to become his kids’s nanny. The writer allegedly wasted no time in his pursuit of Pavlovich, as their first assembly concluded with Gaiman convincing her to wash in a bath positioned in his backyard as he accomplished a piece name. Based on Pavlovich, Gaiman then joined her within the bathtub, the place he sexually assaulted her.
Pavlovich’s allegations develop extra disturbing with every new element from the repeated assaults, lots of that are too disturbing and graphic to repeat right here. In a single occasion, Gaiman allegedly assaulted Pavlovich whereas he watched screeners of the primary season of The Sandman, the Netflix collection primarily based on his comedian books revealed by DC Comics. Pavlovich stated that the assault was so violent that she vomited. Sadly, her account of that exact incident would not finish there.
Allegations Towards Neil Gaiman Present a Patten of Abuse
A second girl, Kendra Stout, additionally particulars Gaiman’s cycle of abuse by alleging she was coerced into having tough intercourse with the writer, which additionally resulted in her being crushed. Stout says that Gaiman insisted he could not have intercourse another means, and goes on to allege that Gaiman assaulted her in a separate incident when she declined his advances as a result of a UTI.
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The report incorporates allegations from different ladies who’ve extraordinarily related tales to the ladies who’ve come ahead publicly. Based on the report, a lot of the ladies had been of their 20s after they met the writer, whereas the youngest was stated to be 18. All of those situations of assault are stated to have taken place when Gaiman was in his 40s or older, apart from one. Every of the ladies had some form of shut relationship with Gaiman. Two of the ladies labored for him personally (Pavlovich says she labored for months as an assistant and nanny with out pay), whereas 5 others had been followers of his work. The truth that Gaiman publicly presents himself as a feminist and ally to ladies makes these allegations all of the extra disturbing.
In one of many extra upsetting facets of the report, two of the ladies allege that they had been assaulted whereas Gaiman and Palmer’s younger son was current. Pavlovich additionally claims that Gaiman’s son started calling her “slave” and had her name him “grasp,” imitating the abusive dynamic Gaiman allegedly imposed on his victims.
Many have questioned Gaiman’s ex-wife, Amanda Palmer, and her doable complicity within the allegations. Pavlovich, who was befriended by Palmer and subsequently launched to Gaiman as a doable nanny, says she instructed Palmer concerning the assaults and abuse, and that Palmer merely promised to “handle her.” When the nanny went to the police together with her allegations, Pavlovich says that Palmer did not converse to the investigators, and she or he wasn’t invited again to work as a nanny regardless of her precarious monetary state of affairs – which each Gaiman and Palmer had been conscious of. It was solely after signing a non-disclosure settlement that Pavlovich obtained any cost from Gaiman for her work. Gaiman and Palmer have since divorced, along with his representatives claiming that Palmer “was a serious pressure driving this story in mild of their contentious divorce.”
For his half, Gaiman has denied most of the allegations and has insisted that any sexual encounters had been solely consensual. Not a lot has occurred to the writer when it comes to authorized bother because of the allegations, however a number of of his tasks, or tasks associated to his work, have been postponed since these allegations first got here to mild. In the meantime, Netflix nonetheless plans on releasing The Sandman Season 2, whereas Amazon continues to be transferring ahead with a six-episode adaptation of Anansi Boys, which completed filming in 2022.
If you happen to or somebody you recognize has been affected by sexual assault, you possibly can name the nationwide help hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or go to RAINN.org for extra sources.