Amanda Palmer, Neil Gaiman’s former spouse, speaks out about allegations of sexual assault and troubling events during their marriage

The former wife of author Neil Gaiman has expressed deep concern over claims that he sexually assaulted multiple young women while they were married.

Amanda Palmer, aged 49, has been accused by several individuals of knowing about her British writer husband’s abusive sexual behavior during their 11-year relationship.

Palmer, who was married to Gaiman from 2011 to 2022, has yet to publicly address the specific claims against her ex-husband. 

Nevertheless, her spokesperson released a statement stating that while Ms. Palmer is troubled by the allegations against Mr. Gaiman, her main focus at present is her son’s well-being. In order to protect his privacy, she has chosen not to comment on these accusations.

Gaiman, 64, the award-winning writer behind Coraline and Stardust, has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. 

In a statement on his website, he admitted to being ‘careless with people’s hearts and feelings’ but insisted all sexual encounters were consensual.

The allegations, however, have sparked outrage, with author JK Rowling criticising the literary community for its ‘strangely muted’ response.

Some of the accusations involve disturbing claims of coercive sexual relationships, with Gaiman allegedly adopting the role of ‘master’ and his partners as ‘slaves.’

One alleged victim, identified as Rachel, claimed she had been Palmer’s lover before being ‘passed like a toy’ to Gaiman. 

Another woman, Scarlett Pavlovich, has accused Gaiman of rape and sexual abuse after being recruited by Palmer to work as their babysitter.

Pavlovich, now a student at the University of St Andrews, alleged that when she disclosed the rape to Palmer and said she was still engaging in sexual relations with Gaiman, Palmer appeared unsurprised, allegedly responding: ‘Fourteen women have come to me about this.’

The former babysitter also claims to have filed a police report against Gaiman in 2023 but said Palmer declined to cooperate with investigators.

Pavlovich has alleged Gaiman raped her in an outdoor bathtub while she was nannying the son he shares with Palmer, on February 4 2022. 

The student said the author encouraged her to take a bath after they finished dinner, despite her resistance.

After she stripped down and got in, she claimed Gaiman got naked and joined. While he was in the tub, Pavlovich said he told her to stretch out.

‘I said “no.” I said, ‘I’m not confident with my body,’ Pavlovich recounted. ‘[Gaiman] said, “It’s okay — it’s only me. Just relax. Just have a chat.”‘

But Pavlovich said the situation escalated, and Gaiman sexually assaulted her.

Gaiman has continued to deny any wrongdoing amid the allegations.

Continuing in his website statement, he wrote: ‘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.

‘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,’ Gaiman explained.

He said he read through his accusers’ accounts of their relationships with him and found ‘there are moments I half recognize and moments I don’t, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen.

‘I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever,’ Gaiman claimed.

The author also said he even went back and read through the messages he shared with the woman accusing him of sexual assault.

‘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,’ he said. 

‘At the time I was in those relationships, they seemed positive and happy on both sides.

‘And I also realize, looking through them, years later, that I could have and should have done so much better,’ the Coraline writer admitted.

‘I was emotionally unavailable while being sexually available, self-focused and not as thoughtful as I could have 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.’

He is now trying to improve himself, he said.

‘I’ve spent some months now taking a long, hard look at who I have been and how I have made people feel,’ Gaiman told his readers.

‘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 and the people I love. I will be doing my very best to deserve their trust, as well as the trust of my readers.’

Still, he insisted, ‘I don’t accept there was any abuse.

‘To repeat, I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone.’

‘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,’ he claimed.

‘I am prepared to take responsibility for any missteps I made,’ Gaiman 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.’

The author was first accused by five women in July of sexual assault, leading to the third season of Amazon’s Good Omens being scrapped.

Even more women have since revealed disturbing details about their encounters with the American Gods writer in a shocking report from New York Magazine.

The Royal Society of Literature (RSL), which elected Gaiman as a fellow in 2018, has come under scrutiny for its silence.

The organisation declined to confirm whether it would revoke his fellowship and said the allegations were not discussed at its recent annual meeting.