‘The Sandman’ Creator Neil Gaiman Breaks Silence After Four More Women Accuse Him Of Sexual Assault: “I Don’t Accept There Was Any Abuse”
After an additional quartet of women recently came forward to accuse the once-esteemed author of sexual assault, The Sandman creator Neil Gaiman has finally broken his self-imposed radio silence and offered his first public response to the harrowing claims made against him.
As previously reported, Gaiman’s current controversy first began in July 2024 when British news outlet Tortoise Media published a six-part podcast detailing the stories of two separate women who claimed to have been assaulted by the author.
The first woman, a fan of Gaiman’s writing identified only as K, claimed that in the early-2000s, when she was aged just 20 and Gaiman was in his mid-40s, she was subject to a variety of painful sexual acts which “she neither wanted nor enjoyed”.
The second woman, known only as Scarlet, accused Gaiman of assaulting her in a bathtub at his New Zealand residence, with the assault apparently happening shortly after they met in February 2022 when she worked at his house as a nanny.
Though Gaiman never issued an official public response to the podcast’s contents, he did inform Tortoise Media that he “strongly denies any allegations of non-consensual sex with the women and adds New Zealand police did not take up his offer of assistance over one woman’s complaint in 2022, which, he says, reflects its lack of substance.”
Unfortunately, these women would not be the last to come forward with such accusations against the author.
On January13th, New York Magazine would publish a piece by Lila Shapiro titled ‘There Is No Safe Word: How the best-selling fantasy author Neil Gaiman hid the darkest parts of himself for decades’, therein detailing the personally-provided stories of four additional women who claimed to have been assaulted by the author.
Notably, each woman’s story is equal parts extensive, harrowing, and straight-up repugnant, and as such, it is recommended that those curious as to the full details of their experiences read Shapiro’s piece in full.
However, to provide a very, very brief summary of each accuser and her tale:
- Scarlett Pavlovich, aged 22 at the time Gaiman’s assaults took place, says that the author would regularly attempt to force her into rough and unwanted sexual situations, such as “anal sex without lubrication” or urinating on his hand and telling her to “lick it off”
- Kendra Stout, then aged 21, recalls that at one point during her brief relationship with Gaiman, she developed a particularly painful Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) that precluded her from engaging in sexual intercourse. Despite her protestations, she says Gaiman still proceeded to forcibly penetrate her.
- Katherine Kendall, then aged 22, claims that during a book tour in 2012, she was invited onto the author’s bus under social pretenses, only to then find herself fending off Gaiman’s rather forceful and unwanted advances.
- Caroline, then aged 54, asserts that after engaging in a sexual relationship with Gaiman, the author began to use the woman as his personal ‘property’, even going so far as to offer her a living space on his farm in exchange for her ‘services’.
One particularly reprehensible detail found within these stories is that, according to Pavlovich and Caroline, Gaiman would regularly and unashamedly engage in full-blown sexual intercourse well-within view of his child-aged son, sometimes even going so far as to speak with him while mid coitus.
Further, Pavlovich also identifies Gaiman’s wife, musician Amanda Palmer, as an enabler of her husband’s abusive behavior.
Following the piece’s publication, Gaiman took to his personal blog to offer his first personal statement on the scandal unfolding around him.
“Over the past many months, I have watched the stories circulating the internet about me with horror and dismay I’ve stayed quiet until now, both out of respect for the people who were sharing their stories and out of a desire not to draw even more attention to a lot of misinformation,” he began. “I’ve always tried to be a private person, and felt increasingly that social media was the wrong place to talk about important personal matters. I’ve now reached the point where I feel that I should say something.”
“As I read through this latest collection of accounts, there are moments I half-recognise and moments I don’t, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen,” he then asserted. “I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever.”
To this end, he then noted, “I went back to read the messages I exchanged with the women around and following the occasions that have subsequently been reported as being abusive. These messages read now as they did when I received them – of two people enjoying entirely consensual sexual relationships and wanting to see one another again. At the time I was in those relationships, they seemed positive and happy on both sides.”
“And I also realise, looking through them, years later, that I could have and should have done so much better,” the Coraline creator continued. “I was emotionally unavailable while being sexually available, self-focused and not as thoughtful as I could or should have been. I was obviously careless with people’s hearts and feelings, and that’s something that I really, deeply regret. It was selfish of me. I was caught up in my own story and I ignored other people’s.”
“I’ve spent some months now taking a long, hard look at who I have been and how I have made people feel,” said Gaiman. “Like most of us, I’m learning, and I’m trying to do the work needed, and I know that that’s not an overnight process. I hope that with the help of good people, I’ll continue to grow. I understand that not everyone will believe me or even care what I say but I’ll be doing the work anyway, for myself, my family and the people I love. I will be doing my very best to deserve their trust, as well as the trust of my readers.”
“At the same time, as I reflect on my past – and as I re-review everything that actually happened as opposed to what is being alleged – I don’t accept there was any abuse,” he asserted. “To repeat, I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone.”
Drawing his statement to a close, Gaiman declared, “Some of the horrible stories now being told simply never happened, while others have been so distorted from what actually took place that they bear no relationship to reality.”
“I am prepared to take responsibility for any missteps I made,” he concluded. “I’m not willing to turn my back on the truth, and I can’t accept being described as someone I am not, and cannot and will not admit to doing things I didn’t do.”
Notably, Palmer also issued a statement in the wake of Shapiro’s article going live – However, hers amounts more to a ‘no comment’ than anything of substance.
Taking to her personal Instagram, The Dresden Dolls vocalist informed the public, “As there are ongoing custody and divorce proceedings, I am not able to offer public comment. Please understand that I am first and foremost a parent. I ask for privacy at this time.”
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