Warning: This story discusses allegations of sexual assault.
Six months after author Neil Gaiman was accused of sexual assault by two women, including one from New Zealand, more allegations against him have been revealed.
The 64-year-old English author was first accused of sexual assault in July 2023, by UK-based platform Tortoise media in a podcast series called Master: The allegations against Neil Gaiman. That investigation was eventually dropped.
Neil Gaiman is facing sexual assault allegations in New Zealand. Photo / Getty Images
But this week, multiple women have spoken to Vulture, a US entertainment news page for the New York Magazine, with allegations of sexual assault. Writer Lila Shapiro spoke with eight women who detailed their experiences, including four who had previously been featured on the podcast.
Gaiman’s representatives have denied the allegations, telling the US publication that he and the women had engaged in consensual encounters.
The Vulture article states that all of the accusers had at some point played along with Gaiman’s desires to some extent by calling him “master” and continuing to communicate with him, but the women allege that consent and specific BDSM activities which they say took place had not been discussed and agreed on prior to them happening.
Who is Neil Gaiman?
Gaiman is a best-selling British fantasy graphic novel and science fiction writer, whose books Good Omens, American Gods and ground-breaking comic book series The Sandman – have been adapted for television – available to stream on Amazon Prime and Netflix in New Zealand.
His 1999 novel Stardust was turned into a romantic fantasy adventure film in 2007 starring Claire Danes, Sienna Miller and Ricky Gervais.
His books Good Omens, American Gods and The Sandman have been adapted for television, available to stream on Amazon Prime and Netflix in New Zealand. Photo / 123rf
Gaiman has won a stack of literary awards including the Hugo, Nebula and Bram Stoker awards. He was the first author to win the Newbery and Carnegie medals for the same work – The Graveyard Book – written in 2008. In 2013, his dark fantasy work The Ocean at the End of the Lane was voted the Book of the Year at the British National Book Awards.
In 2011, Gaiman guest-starred in an episode of The Simpsons called The Book Job. Playing himself, he helped Homer write a book.
What’s happened to his work since the allegations?
The allegations made against Gaiman have halted film and TV adaptations of his work that were in production. Disney has stopped work on The Graveyard Book, while the third-season finale of Good Omens will now close off the series with a 90-minute episode, without the author’s involvement.
Disney has stopped work on The Graveyard Book due to the allegations made against Gaiman. Photo / Disney
A second season of The Sandman, largely completed before the allegations surfaced, is currently scheduled for release this year, as is Amazon’s series adaptation of Anansi Boys.
What’s the connection to New Zealand?
At the start of 2020, just prior to the first Covid-19 lockdown, Gaiman and his ex-wife, musician Amanda Palmer, were in Australia and New Zealand respectively. Palmer was coming to the end of a 14-month tour while Gaiman was staying in Melbourne with their then 4-year-old son and his nanny, according to posts on his blog.
Palmer had intended to meet Gaiman in Melbourne, but those plans changed when the New Zealand Government announced the first Covid lockdown, prompting Gaiman to instead fly to Wellington with their son to avoid the compulsory 14-day isolation period, which was due to come into effect at midnight the following day.
During that time Gaiman said he wasn’t sure how long his stay in New Zealand would last. However, in May that year he had flown to Scotland alone, saying that he and Palmer had found themselves in “a rough place” before he left.
In a blog post from that time, Gaiman hinted at the reasons behind his sudden departure from New Zealand: “My fault, I’m afraid, I’d hurt her feelings very badly, and ... actually beyond that it’s none of anyone else’s business”.
In a mutually written letter from that time, opening with “Dear Everybody,” the couple admitted that living in lockdown was hard, and that “working on a marriage, as everyone married knows, is also hard”.
In January 2021, Gaiman reunited with Palmer and their son in New Zealand, where they were living on Waiheke Island, about a 35-minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland. That year, Gaiman appeared at the Auckland Writer’s Festival and made a guest appearance on TV3’s current affairs programme The Project.
Gaiman and Palmer ended their 11-year marriage in 2022, each posting statements on their blogs that they were divorcing.
One of the women who has accused Gaiman of sexual assault is New Zealander Scarlett Pavlovich, Vulture reported. She was hired as a nanny for Gaiman and Palmer when they were living on Waiheke Island.
In the Tortoise media podcast series Master: The allegations against Neil Gaiman, Pavlovich details how she randomly met Palmer, former lead singer of the Dresden Dolls, on the street in Auckland. She says she was a fan and they became friends when she was 22 and Palmer was 44. In 2022 Palmer asked Pavlovich to become their fulltime, live-in nanny.
Soon after, she alleges she was introduced to Gaiman at a ferry terminal in Auckland. That evening, five hours after their first meeting, while the now 6-year-old son is at a playdate, Gaiman offered to run her a bath, and that’s where the allegations of sexual abuse begin to unfold.
Pavlovich told the podcast that in 2022 she emailed the New Zealand Police, saying she wanted to report a sexual assault and was subsequently interviewed in Auckland over three days. In March 2024, The Spinoffreported that she received an update from the police saying there is insufficient evidence to bring a prosecution.
