Neil Gaiman accuser: I will survive

The first of nine women to have accused the best-selling author Neil Gaiman of assault says her goal for 2025 is to be a survivor.

She has also filed a lawsuit against Gaiman and his estranged wife, Amanda Palmer, seeking $7 million in compensation and damages.

In her first interview since filing the suit, Scarlett Pavlovich

• speaks of her fear of scrutiny in her court case; and
• says she and some of her fellow accusers now feel “like family”.

Lawyers for Pavlovich filed the complaint in the United States. The suit accuses Gaiman of assault, battery and inflicting emotional distress, and Palmer of negligence. The complaint alleges the couple violated laws on human trafficking.

Pavlovich first told her story in July last year in the Tortoise podcast series, Master: the allegations against Neil Gaiman.

First claim. The allegations stem from her time working for the couple as a nanny in New Zealand in 2022. Her 27-page claim includes details of an allegation of sexual assault that she says took place in a hotel room in Auckland in New Zealand, while Neil Gaiman’s child played on an iPad nearby. Gaiman has vehemently denied this version of events and says they are false and defamatory.

Second wave. In January New York Magazine spoke to eight women – some of whom had also spoken to Tortoise – who described allegations of sexual assault, coercion or abuse by Gaiman.

Denials. Following this, Gaiman responded publicly for the first time. In an online statement he said: “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 have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever. "

In a statement to Tortoise Amanda Palmer said she denied all of Pavlovich’s allegations. She says she first became aware of them from the Tortoise podcast.

Business. Since the allegations first emerged the pipeline for Gaiman’s lucrative TV and literary work has begun to dry up.

• Dark Horse Comics cancelled the Anansi Boys series after seven issues.
• Netflix cancelled Dead Boy Detectives after one season.
• DC Comics pulled a Gaiman title that was due to be published later this year.
• Disney paused a planned feature on The Graveyard Book.  
• Amazon Prime confirmed Gaiman would no longer working on the final season of the adaptation of “Good Omens”.
• HarperCollins, Marvel, and W.W. Norton confirmed that they do not have future books planned with the author.
• Neil Gaiman has been removed from UK agent Casarotto Ramsay & Associates’ client list.

Tortoise has approached Gaiman’s UK publisher, Bloomsbury, on multiple occasions. So far, the company has said nothing.

Surviving. Pavlovich is now a student at St Andrew’s University in Scotland. She says she is on a journey from being a victim to a survivor. She is now in contact with a number of the women who made similar allegations against Gaiman. “They really feel like family”, she said.

Caroline, who lived on Gaiman’s property in upstate New York feels the same. “We don’t have any power, the only thing we have is our courage and our voices,” she said.

Pavlovich says she is terrified at the prospect of her upcoming court case: “The role of the law is not to really scrutinize him. It's really always to scrutinize me”.

Resolutions. At Christmas, thanks to what Scarlett refers to as a mysterious benefactor, she flew to the US where she spent time with one of the other women, Kendra, along with Caroline and one of her old friends, REM’s lead-singer, Michael Stipe. “It was the best feeling in the world,” Caroline says.

On New Year’s Eve the women lit a bonfire, wrote down resolutions for 2025 and threw them into the fire.

“Mine was about reclamation and a real act of repair,” Pavlovich said. “This year I have to be a survivor”.

Further listening: Episode 7 – The Lawsuit