The previous nanny of best-selling fantasy author Neil Gaiman and his estranged spouse, Amanda Palmer, claims in a lawsuit that Gaiman raped her repeatedly and demanded that she name him “grasp.”
Scarlett Pavlovich filed lawsuits in federal court docket in Massachusetts, New York and Wisconsin on Monday, accusing Gaiman and Palmer of violating federal human trafficking prohibitions. She is looking for over $7 million in damages.
Pavlovich and 4 different ladies got here ahead with abuse allegations in opposition to Gaiman in July on a podcast titled “Grasp: The Allegations In opposition to Neil Gaiman.” 5 ladies, together with Pavlovich (who didn’t use her full identify within the podcast), accused him of undesirable sexual contact. Pavlovich later got here ahead along with her full identify and detailed the allegations of abuse in a New York Journal story printed final month, which included allegations from a complete of eight ladies.
Pavlovich mentioned she was 22 when she met the couple in 2020 in Auckland, New Zealand. She mentioned Palmer invited her to her house on Waiheke Island, which is a couple of 40-minute ferry trip from Auckland. She started working for the couple first by operating errands, then by babysitting their son and serving to with chores, in line with the swimsuit.
Gaiman, a British author now dwelling in Wisconsin, has written practically 50 books, lots of which have been tailored for movie and TV, together with “The Sandman” and “Coraline.” Palmer, who lives in upstate New York, made her mark as a part of the punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls. The 2 introduced they had been getting divorced in 2022.
Gaiman beforehand denied allegations made by accusers in a assertion on his web site final month. “I’m removed from an ideal individual, however I’ve by no means engaged in non-consensual sexual exercise with anybody. Ever,” he wrote.
He mentioned he regrets being “clearly careless with folks’s hearts and emotions,” calling it “egocentric.” However “[s]ome of the horrible tales now being advised merely by no means occurred, whereas others have been so distorted from what really occurred that they bear no relationship to actuality,” he wrote.
Earlier than the lawsuit was filed, Palmer posted on Instagram that she couldn’t remark, “as there are ongoing custody and divorce proceedings.” The couple, who married in 2011, have one little one collectively.
Gaiman and Palmer didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark Tuesday. Neither has publicly commented on the current lawsuits.
The lawsuit says: “Gaiman engaged in lots of nonconsensual intercourse acts with Scarlett. These acts had been abusive and demeaning. … Scarlett endured these acts as a result of she would lose her job, housing, and promised future profession assist if she didn’t.”
Palmer performed a job in “procuring and presenting” Pavlovich to her husband, in line with court docket paperwork. “Greater than a dozen ladies, together with a number of former staff, had beforehand come to Palmer about abusive sexual encounters with Gaiman,” the lawsuit says.
Pavlovich “had nowhere to go” and would have been homeless if she left, in line with the lawsuit, which describes Pavlovich because the couple’s “financial hostage.”
“Scarlett knew that she had solely two selections: she might both undergo Gaiman’s coercion and violence or she might attempt to escape,” the lawsuit says.
When Pavlovich met the couple, it says, she was penniless and “sleeping on the seaside.” Pavlovich, who’s lesbian, was additionally grappling with “substantial psychological well being difficulties.” Pavlovich had additionally been raped at age 15 by a middle-age man, the swimsuit says.
Palmer was conscious of her historical past, Pavlovich mentioned within the court docket paperwork.
Pavlovich mentioned she was at Gaiman’s home in New Zealand when the primary sexual assault occurred on Feb. 4, 2022. She mentioned that Gaiman, who was 61 on the time, known as her his “slave” and that the assaults continued till she advised Palmer she would kill herself and was hospitalized.
“Some incidents occurred within the presence of Gaiman and Palmer’s little one,” the lawsuit says.
After Pavlovich was launched from the hospital, the papers say, Gaiman paid her for the babysitting she had achieved and helped cowl her lease for a number of months.
Pavlovich alleged that when she reported the rapes to the police, she thought Palmer would again up her expenses, as a result of she “had expressed disgust for what Gaiman had achieved, calling him ‘Weinstein’ and predicting he could be inevitably ‘MeTooed’.”
“Her hope was in useless,” the papers say. “The police took no motion as a result of Palmer refused to speak to them.”
Gaiman has skilled some skilled fallout for the reason that allegations surfaced final yr. Darkish Horse Comics mentioned on X final month that it might now not publish his works. A deliberate film adaptation of considered one of his books was reportedly placed on pause.
