Over the past few months, popular fantasy novelist Neil Gaiman has been hit with accusations of sexual misconduct from numerous women. One of those women was Scarlett Pavlovich, a woman who had begun babysitting the child Gaiman shares with his wife Amanda Palmer. In a report for Vulture, Pavlovich said Gaiman sexually assaulted her the first time they met, and later raped her. Now, Pavlovich has filed civil lawsuits in three separate states, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New York, accusing Gaiman of repeatedly sexually assaulting her while she was working for him. Because of Palmer's involvement, the suit also accuses the couple of violating human trafficking laws.
Per the Associated Press, Pavlovich's suit claims that she first met Palmer on a beach in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2020 when she was 22 years old. Pavlovich said she was homeless and broke at the time, so she began working for Palmer as an occasional personal assistant and nanny.
By 2022, when Pavlovich claims Gaiman first assaulted her, Gaiman and Palmer were separated and living in different houses. The assaults continued, the suit explains, but Pavlovich didn't report them for months because she needed the money and Gaiman promised he'd help her aspiring writing career. Eventually, Pavlovich told Palmer about the assaults, to which Palmer allegedly responded: "Fourteen women have come to me about this."
Pavlovich alleges that, because Palmer introduced Pavlovich to Gaiman knowing his sexual desires and history, the couple violated federal human trafficking prohibitions. Pavlovich is seeking at least $7 million in damages.
Meanwhile, Gaiman has denied ever engaging in non-consensual sexual activity. HarperCollins and W.W. Norton, two houses who have published his work in the past, have said they have no plans to release his books in the future. Disney has also paused an adaptation of his book The Graveyard Book.
If you or someone you know is undergoing sexual abuse, please visit rainn.org or contact the National Sexual Assault Helpline at 1-800-656-4673.
