In the latest development regarding the harrowing claims of sexual assault leveled against Neil Gaiman, one of The Sandman author’s public accusers has filed a proper lawsuit against both him and his wife vocalist Amanda Palmer on the grounds that, per her recollection, both individuals worked together to subject her to various abuses.
The lawsuit in question was filed on February 3rd with the United States Western District Court of Wisconsin by Scarlett Pavlovich, one of the four original women who offered up her story to Tortoise Media as part of their 2024 investigation into Gaiman’s supposedly sordid history.
According to Pavlovich, during her time working for the couple as their personal nanny, Gaiman would regularly attempt to force himself upon her in the hopes of engaging in particularly rough or degrading sexual acts, including unwanted “anal sex without lubrication” and urinating on his hand and telling her to “lick it off”.
Further, she also claims that at one point during her employment, Gaiman outright raped her, forcing himself on her in an outdoor bathtub kept on the grounds of his New Zealand residence.
In further detailing her alleged experiences to New York Magazine’s Lila Shapiro for a second Gaiman-related exposé, Pavlovich additionally recalled that in one unwanted encounter, the author began initiating intercourse with her while in the same room with his young son (and even actively speaking to him during the eventual act).
Far from the author being the sole perpetrator of her abuse, the former nanny also laid blame on the aforementioned Palmer, asserting that rather than being a passive or unknown observer of her soon-to-be-ex-husband’s (Gaiman and Palmer filed for divorce in 2022) actions, she had in fact actively enabled them.
And to top it all of, per her version of events, the couple never paid her for some of her nanny work, in doing so essentially coercing free labor out of her by continually kicking her ‘payment date’ ever further and further down the road.
To this end, Pavlovich’s lawsuit levels a number of formal accusations against Gaiman and Palmer, including:
- Four counts of Human Trafficking, as raised based on their alleged violations of the U.S. Code regarding Forced Labor .
- One count each of “Assault”, “Battery”, and the “Intentional Infliction of of Emotional Distress” and “Negligent Inflicition of Extreme Emotional Distress” for Gaiman specifically.
- One count of “Negligence” against Palmer, with Pavlovich’s legal team declaring that “given her knowledge of Gaiman’s predilections and predations,” The Dresden Dolls lead vocalist failed in her “duty not to introduce further victims to him [and her] duty to warn Scarlett of the danger posed by Gaiman before introducing Scarlett to Gaiman.”
In terms of relief, Pavlovich is seeking financial damages for Gaiman’s abuses and the resulting tolls they took on her life to the tune of “an amount to be proven at trial, but which is reasonably believed to be in excess of $1,000,000,” as well as all “pre-and-post-judgement interested on all damages awarded” and her “costs incurred in this suit as well as reasonable attorney’s fees.”
As of writing, neither Gaiman nor Palmer have yet to offer a public response to Pavlovich’s lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Gaiman has fully denied the entire range of accusations that have been leveled against him, writing in a January 14th, 2025 blog post, “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. 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.”