Woman’s litigation says sci-fi author Neil Gaiman repeatedly assaulted her sexually

Madison, Wis. (AP) -An woman from New Zealand has brought three civilian lawsuits against best-selling The British author Neil Gaiman And his wife, who accused Gaiman of repeatedly sexually assaulted her while working as a couple’s babysitter and nanny.

Scarlett Pavlovich filed litigation at the federal court in Wisconsin, Massachusetts and New York on Monday.

Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they publicly identify. Pavlovich identified himself in an interview with New York Magazine that published an article in January that detailed assaults of assault, abuse and coercion leveled by eight women.

Pavlovich claims in the lawsuits that she was homeless and lived on a beach when she met Palmer in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2020. Pavlovich was 22 years old at the time.

According to the lawsuits, Gaiman’s wife, Amanda Palmer, invited Pavlovich to the couple’s home on Waiheke Island. Pavlovich started running errands for the couple, babysitting their son and helping with duties and eventually becoming the couple’s nanny.

Gaiman first sexually attacked her the night they met in February 2022, according to the lawsuits. The assaults continued, but she continued to work for the couple because she was crushed and homeless, and Gaiman had told her he would help her writing career, according to the lawsuits.

When she told Palmer about the assaults, Palmer told her that more than a dozen women had told her in the past that Gaiman had sexually abused them, according to the lawsuits.

The assaults did not stop until Pavlovich told Palmer she would kill herself, the lawsuits said. She left the family and became homeless again, even though the documents say Gaiman eventually paid her for her work, which used the couple’s child and helped cover her rent for a few months.

Palmer knew of Gaiman’s sexual desires and presented Pavalovich to him knowing that he would attack her, according to the lawsuits. Pavlovich claims that Gaiman and Palmer violated federal ban on human trafficking and seeking at least $ 7 million in compensation.

After the New York Magazine article was published, Gaiman released a statement In January, he ever denied that he had ever engaged in non-consensual sex. The allegations of four of the women were previously sent in July in a turtle media podcast.

“I am far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with someone. Ever, ”Gaiman posted on the social media platform Tumblr.

Representatives of Gaiman and Palmer did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday, and online court registrations did not state lawyers who represented them in the suits. Pavlovich’s lawyers stated in the archives that Gaiman, author of such bestsellers as “Coraline” and “The Sandman” series, is a resident of Menomonie, Wisconsin. But they are uncertain whether Palmer is a resident of Massachusetts or New York.

Pavlovich told New York Magazine that she filed a police report in January 2023 and accused Gaiman of sexual assault. Police have not confirmed if Gaiman was ever under investigation.

Gaiman has worked with several publishers over the years. Two of them, Harpercollins and WW Norton, have said they have no plans to publish his books in the future. Others, including Bloomsbury, have so far rejected comment.

Dark Horse Comics announced in January that it would No longer let go of its illustrated series based on Gaiman’s novel, “Anansi Boys.” The seventh of eight editions were released earlier that month.

Disney has held a planned adaptation of Gaiman’s “The Graveyard Book”, while Netflix is ​​still scheduled to release another season based on “The Sandman.”