Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of alleged sexual assault.
Fantasy writer Neil Gaiman and his estranged wife were sued in a set of federal cases filed in New York, Wisconsin and Massachusetts on Monday, alleging the bestselling author violently raped and sexually abused the former nanny of his child.
The suits brought by Scarlett Pavlovich come after Gaiman, 64, was recently accused in a New York Magazine cover story of sexually assaulting, abusing and forcing at least eight women into sex while at the height of his success.
Gaiman is accused of multiple instances of depraved sexual violence in the Wisconsin suit, including assaulting the former minder of his child near Auckland, New Zealand, where she worked for him and his wife until she was injured and unconscious. It alleges the attacks were committed with such regularity that Gaiman’s child became aware of them and began calling the nanny “slave.”
In graphic detail, Pavlovich alleges the abuse occurred as recently as February 2022, when the suit describes the author as violently forcing anal sex on her “while smearing her with truffle oil,” and, on another occasion, butter and ordering her to “clean him up.”
The New York and Massachusetts suits, which only name Gaiman’s estranged wife, artist and author Amanda Palmer, as a defendant, alleges Palmer was aware of her husband’s “need to humiliate his female sexual partners — with or without their consent.”
The Manhattan suit lists human trafficking, conspiracy to commit human trafficking, negligence, and related offenses as causes of action. The Wisconsin and Massachusetts suits list the same claims, and assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of extreme emotional distress against Gaiman.
Lawyers for Pavlovich declined to comment. Efforts to reach Gaiman and Palmer were unsuccessful.
In a statement posted on his website last month, Gaiman said there were things he “could have and should have done so much better,” but that he had “never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone.”
In the wake of the recent blockbuster expose in Vulture, a vertical of New York Magazine, Gaiman was dropped by Dark Horse Comics last week. Several Hollywood adaptations of his stories have been paused since he first faced accusations of sexual abuse. Netflix recently announced that the second season of its “The Sandman” adaptation would be its last.
Multiple women told the outlet that the writer tried to pay them off after the abuse and forced them to sign nondisclosure agreements.
The U.K.-born Gaiman, the author of “The Sandman” graphic novel series and several beloved books, including “American Gods” and “Coraline,” had long been hailed as an ally of progressive causes.
One of his early vignettes in “The Sandman” tells the story of a fictional writer who imprisons and rapes the Greek muse “Calliope” to draw inspiration for his work. The story was retold in the Netflix adaptation.
Pavlovich was one of two women who accused him of sexual abuse in a podcast by Tortoise Media broadcast in July.
