Neil Gaiman denies sexual assault, abuse allegations
Neil Gaiman has denied allegations of abuse and sexual assault made by multiple women.
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Neil Gaiman is responding to what he calls “sham” accusations from his child’s former babysitter who sued him last month for alleged human trafficking as well as sexual assault and battery.
In a brief in support of his defense attorneys’ motion to dismiss the case, filed in Wisconsin federal court Tuesday and obtained by USA TODAY, the “Good Omens” author denies Scarlett Pavlovich’s “outrageous” allegations and argues for her lawsuit to be dismissed on the grounds that it was filed in the wrong jurisdiction.
Pavlovich, who started babysitting Gaiman and Palmer’s son in 2022, and Gaiman “began a brief personal relationship, which involved consensual physical intimacy, not sexual intercourse,” per the filing.
“In no uncertain terms, Pavlovich’s accusations are false,” the brief continues. “The sexual scenarios she describes deliberately in graphic detail are invented. Any sexual conduct that occurred was in all ways consensual.”
His filing states that U.S. courts have “no legal authority” over the matter, as the alleged misconduct happened in New Zealand, of which Pavlovich is a citizen. His lawyers also refer to a lengthy list of witnesses who reside there as a reason “the requisite discovery in this case will be severely burdened if litigation occurs outside of New Zealand.”
Pavlovich, Gaiman’s team states, must exhaust “New Zealand’s available remedies prior to bringing a lawsuit in the United States.” His defense lawyers also note “the vast majority of non-party witnesses and evidence are in New Zealand—8,296 miles away from the Western District of Wisconsin.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Pavlovich’s attorneys for comment.
In her Feb. 3 lawsuit, she claimed Gaiman “repeatedly raped” her and “received free sexual services and labor” from her in 2022. The accusations allegedly occurred while Pavlovich was a live-in nanny for Gaiman and wife Amanda Palmer’s child in their New Zealand homes. At the time, she was around 24, while Gaiman was 61.
Pavlovich — who previously leveled these allegations in a Vulture report published Jan. 13 — also accused Palmer, who is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, of “procuring and presenting (Pavlovich) to Gaiman for such abuse.” Palmer denied Pavlovich’s allegations in an Instagram post last month.
Neil Gaiman includes alleged text messages with his accuser
In Tuesday’s brief, Gaiman ardently denies misconduct allegations while conceding to several facts, including that Pavlovich was employed as a babysitter and also entered into a relationship of a sexual nature with Gaiman in 2022.
The filing also provides some of Gaiman and Pavlovich’s alleged Whatsapp messages, with the full record reserved for a separate filing that is under seal and inaccessible to the public.
This “correspondence reflects not only that Gaiman’s alleged conduct was consensual, but also on many occasions, it was initiated and/or encouraged by Plaintiff herself,” Gaiman’s filing says. “At no point in any of Plaintiff’s messages to Gaiman did she ever accuse him of misconduct. Any suggestion that Gaiman raped or otherwise engaged in violent or non-consensual activity with Plaintiff, at any time, is false and defamatory.”
Gaiman paints Pavlovich as the initiator in their sexual relationship and concedes to her allegation that they were intimate in a bath tub together on Feb. 4, 2022, but claims they did not engage in “sexual intercourse” in that incident.
“At no point during the evening did (Pavlovich) say or do anything that gave Gaiman any indication that she was not willingly participating in these activities,” the author alleges.
On March 24, 2022, Gaiman allegedly messaged Pavlovich after hearing from Palmer that Pavlovich had accused him of sexual assault.
“Honestly, when Amanda told me that you were telling people I’d raped you and were planning to Me Too me, I wanted to kill myself. But I’m getting through it a day at a time, and it’s been to weeks now and I’m still here. Fragile but not great,” his alleged message to Pavlovich reads.
In response, Gaiman claims, Pavlovich said she was “horrified” by his text and that this was “the first time I have heard of this.” An alleged message she sent two days later shows her saying “It was consensual — how many times do I have to … tell everyone.”
The 40-page filing concludes: “Defendant Neil Gaiman respectfully demands that the Court dismiss the Complaint against him on the merits and with prejudice, award him attorney’s fees and expenses incurred in defending this action and grant him such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.”
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support to survivors and their loved ones in English and Spanish at: 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.
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