On Jan. 13, 2025, New York magazine published a story detailing famed author Neil Gaiman’s alleged sexual assault and rape of five young women over the past 25 years. The accusations first surfaced in July from two women, and three more came forward in August. In the following months, another three shared their allegations against Gaiman.
Gaiman is most famous for acclaimed novels such as “American Gods” and “Stardust,” children’s fantasy books like “Coraline,” and a renowned revitalization of DC Comics’ “The Sandman.”
Gaiman’s abuses and misconduct can be traced back to the late ‘90s, and the earliest instance of unwanted advances date back to 1986.
In 2003, 18-year-old Kendra Stout met a 43-year-old Gaiman at a signing for his novel “Endless Nights,” leading to forceful sexual intercourse. Stout recounts the experience as “rough” and “painful.” Several years later, when Stout encountered Gaiman again, he initiated non-consensual penetration again.
More allegations came from Katherine Kendall, who recalled her interactions with Gaiman in 2012, when she was 22-years old. Their relationship evolved from flirtatious but non-sexual calls to a coercive encounter in the back of a touring bus. Gaiman forcibly kissed Kendall whilst laying on top of her, despite her clear reluctance to engage. He then receded from her and stated, “I’m a very wealthy man, and I’m used to getting what I want.”
In many of these encounters, the women describe Gaiman as hiding his affinity for domination under the guise of BDSM, which resurfaced in future encounters. One woman under the pseudonym Brenda recounted that Gaiman initially appeared to be invested in her individuality. At a dinner for a signing of Gaiman’s “The Sandman,” Brenda recounted that “everyone wanted to be near him, but he was laser focused on [her].” After a sexual encounter between the two several years later, Brenda noted that any interest in human connection vanished when he began demanding her to call him “Master” in the bedroom.
Caroline Wallner was another woman who was a victim of Gaiman’s manipulation. Wallner had been living at Gaiman’s Woodstock residence, where Gaiman made frequent trips to perform wellness checks on Wallner and her daughters after a marital separation. Over the following two years, Wallner felt pressured to perform sexual favors for Gaiman to remain on his property.
Of the women who came forward, Scarlett Pavlovich’s story attracted the most attention due to her long-standing professional relationship with Gaiman. Then-22-year-old Pavlovich met Gaiman in 2020 via his estranged wife Amanda Palmer, who had hired her as a babysitter for her 5-year-old son in New Zealand. Within the first day of knowing Pavlovich, Gaiman assaulted her in his bathtub while non-consensually degrading her as a “good little girl” and forced her to call him “Master.”
Gaiman’s abuse would continue throughout the next year, as he forcefully initiated non-hygenic sexual acts, even while his son was in the room. These dynamics bled into other parts of the family: Gaiman’s son began referring to her as a “slave” and asked to be addressed as “Master,” like his father. Pavlovich and Gaiman parted ways in 2022. Soon thereafter, with the encouragement of other women and survivors of sexual assault, Pavlovich filed a police report on Gaiman in January 2023.
In July 2024, British news website Tortoise Media broke a story of Neil Gaiman’s history of sexual assault and harassment through a paywalled multi-episode podcast, delving into testimonies from Pavlovich, Stout, and other women. Due to the monetization of this information and lack of coverage from major trades, the allegations were treated with more trepidation than those in the #MeToo era, but as more victims came forward, the public consensus shifted out of Gaiman’s favor.
Gaiman responded on Jan. 14 to the allegations on his blog. “I was obviously careless with people’s hearts and feelings, and that’s something that I really, deeply regret. It was selfish of me,” he stated, but he didn’t “accept there was any abuse” and that he “cannot and will not admit to doing things [he] didn’t do.”
Gaiman joins a recent trend of feminist men in the industry who have been accused of sexual assault or harrasment. “No Time to Die” director Cary Fukunaga and “It Ends with Us” director Justin Baldoni have also faced allegations of coercion, workplace manipulation, and sexual harassment, contradicting their progressive media personas.
The months following the initial reports of Gaiman’s repeated assaults and non-consensual advances have seen repercussions for his future projects, from a Disney adaptation of Gaiman’s “The Graveyard Book” being quietly shelved, to Gaiman’s exit from the final season of “Good Omens,” which has been truncated to a 90-minute special.