“The Sandman” author Neil Gaiman fired back at his former babysitter on Tuesday, calling her a “fantasist” and producing WhatsApp messages that he says refute her sexual abuse claims.
Gaiman and his estranged wife, Amanda Palmer, were sued in federal court last month for alleged sexual assault and trafficking. The plaintiff, Scarlett Pavlovich, had previously raised the allegations in a Tortoise Media podcast and a New York magazine feature story.
In a court declaration, Gaiman stated that he and Pavlovich had bathed together and engaged in consensual sexual activity, but that they did not have intercourse. He denied the lurid rape and abuse allegations raised in the lawsuit.
“None of Pavlovich’s claims are true,” he wrote. “She is a fantasist who has fabricated a tale of abuse against me and Ms. Palmer.”
Gaiman also produced numerous messages between Pavlovich and himself that he says shows the encounters, which occurred in New Zealand, were consensual.
In one message in February 2022, shortly after their first sexual interaction, Pavlovich wrote, “Thank you for a lovely lovely night – wow x.”
Two days later, she wrote: “Let me know If you want me to run a bath… I am consumed by thoughts of you, the things you will do to me. I’m so hungry.”
According to the messages, Gaiman confronted her about a month later after hearing that she had accused him of rape and was planning to “MeToo” him.
“Oh my God. Neil! I never said that,” she wrote, adding that she was upset because she had been “triggered” about her past. “But I’m horrified by your message – me too you? Rape? WHAT? This is the first I have heard of this. Wow. I need a moment to digest your message… I have never used the word rape, I’m just so shocked, I honestly don’t know what to say.”
Later on, Gaiman wrote to say that one of her friends had been spreading a narrative of abuse to Gaiman’s wife.
“I thought that we were a good thing and a very consensual thing indeed,” Gaiman wrote to Pavlovich.
She responded: “yes we did, and it was consensual (and wonderful)!”
As he expressed fear that he was being portrayed as a “monster,” she sought to offer greater assurance: “This is beyond out of control and as I said I only have fondness and kindness for you. It was consensual – how many times do I have to fucking tell everyone.”
Gaiman wrote in his declaration that he believed Pavlovich was subject to “outside influencers” who pushed a false narrative of abuse against her wishes. According to the filing, she went to the New Zealand authorities in November 2022. The police investigation was closed without charges in April 2024, the document states.
Gaiman alleges that since then, Pavlovich has gone on a media campaign to defame him and try to pressure him into “an unjust financial settlement.”
Several other women also made allegations in the podcast and the New York magazine story. Gaiman has been dropped from a series of projects. In January, he wrote on his personal blog that he had never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity, though he regretted having been “emotionally unavailable” and “careless with people’s hearts and feelings.”
Gaiman’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Wisconsin. They argued both that the allegations are false and that a U.S. court has no jurisdiction over allegations arising in New Zealand.
