The Gaiman Case
Here’s something damning. A woman says Neil Gaiman abused and manipulated her as a girl, but years later she sent him this provocative email: “If I just happen to fly to the UK, just very casually on a whim, you would tell me what hotel lobby to hang out in, right? My neglected loins are looking at cheap flight options even as I type this.” Now the damning part: the woman in question showed reporters the whole thread and it was about David Tennant, who co-stars in Gaiman’s Good Omens TV series. Gaiman had given the reporters the “neglected loins” email and only that email, letting the team think it was about him. How is the beloved fantasy author reacting to the allegations against him? Going by this, not very honestly.
The reporters are with a British podcast called the Slow Newscast, whose four-part series (“Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman”) has brought a storm down on Gaiman’s head. Two women interviewed by the podcast say that Gaiman, a brand-name best-selling author whose fans adore his charm and applaud his feminism, subjected them to emotional and physical suffering during affairs he conducted with them in their early-20s. Each says she found sex with Gaiman an ordeal, and each describes forced, unwanted penetration—presumably rape, though the podcast doesn’t use the word.
The claims about Gaiman are presented by excerpts from taped interviews with the two women. So far neither Gaiman nor his publicist has issued a statement to the public about the mess. But the podcast passes on in paraphrased form the denials that Gaiman sent its team, and it highlights a stream of texts and WhatsApp messages in which one of the women enthused about their sex life and asserted that all had been consensual. The podcast is also at pains to note that another young woman they talked to, one who also began an affair with Gaiman in her early-20s, had nothing but good things to say about him and their experiences together.
The investigators. The Slow Newscast belongs to an outfit called Tortoise Media. The lead presenter for the series is Rachel Johnson, a journalist who is undeniably the sister of Boris Johnson and who vocally opposes the idea that trans women are women. Gaiman believes they are and has said so emphatically, but no evidence has surfaced that Johnson’s attempting a hit job. Most of the reporting on the series, and some of the on-air presenting, was done by Paul Caruana Galizia. He’s won an Orwell Prize special award and a British Journalism Award; this information comes from Penguin Books, the publisher of Galizia’s A Death in Malta, which is about his mother’s life as an investigative reporter and her death in a car bombing.
The accusers. According to the podcast, the two women in the case have never met or had other contact. The woman who sent the enthusiastic texts and WhatsApp messages is a New Zealander whose first name is Scarlett (or Scarlet; the podcast doesn’t specify). Scarlett was 22 and Gaiman 61 during their three-week affair in February 2022. A lesbian who professes no sexual interest in men, Scarlett was a fan of Gaiman’s then-wife, the indie rock star Amanda Palmer. It was Palmer who invited her to serve as live-in nanny to the couple’s six-year-old boy. The affair started the evening of Feb. 4, Scarlett’s first day in the household, when she and Gaiman were alone in his home; he drew her a bath and then got into it with her. It ended when the writer and his son left New Zealand for Britain on Feb. 24; Scarlett had Covid and stayed behind. The Slow Newscast began its investigation after Scarlett contacted it in October 2023.
The other woman, the admirer of David Tennant, is referred to by the reporting team as K., her first initial. An American who’s now in her late-30s, K. was a Gaiman fan and met him at a book signing in Florida when she was in high school. Later they started a two-year affair that ended in October 2008; at that point Gaiman and his first wife hadn’t yet divorced. When the affair started, Gaiman was 45 and K. was 20 or 21. The podcast found her in the course of conducting its investigation.
The accusations. Gaiman denies nothing in the two paragraphs just above. But Scarlett says that, without her consent, he put his fingers up her rectum that night in the bathtub, and that the next night he sodomized her without a condom or her consent. K. says that during a trip in Britain she told him she had a urinary tract infection and that he couldn’t put his penis inside her vagina, but that he went ahead anyway and caused her excruciating pain. Despite the podcast’s reticence, most of us would describe these episodes as rape.
Both K. and Scarlett say Gaiman beat them with his belt, that the anal sex he subjected them to was intensely painful (with Scarlett blacking out and K. almost blacking out), that he refused when they asked him to go easy during violent sex play, and that he told them to call him “Master.” Scarlett says he urinated on his hand and made her “clean him up,” meaning with her mouth, and that he demanded the same sort of cleaning up after making her vomit several times and after performing anal sex on her without a condom. The podcast implies, but doesn’t state, that no safe words or negotiation of boundaries was involved in Scarlett’s case; it doesn’t mention this side of things with regard to K.
Gaiman’s side. The writer denies K’s claim of forcing her to have sex when she had a UTI, and he says that in general he didn’t press her for intercourse because, in the podcast’s words, “she found penetrative sex with him difficult and uncomfortable because of his body.” Pending further explanation, this would appear to mean either his penis was too big or his hipbones too sharp. With Scarlett he says he never performed what the reporters described as “full penetrative sex,” which would appear to rule out anal intercourse. He says that at some point he performed “digital penetration” on Scarlett but not against her will. It’s unclear if he means anal or vaginal. On the occasion that she says he digitally penetrated her rectum, he says they did nothing but hold each other; he says the same of the occasion when she claims he required her to lick up messes. He doesn’t deny that he and the two women engaged in BDSM; he does deny that anything was done to them against their will.
Gaiman argues that K.’s claims are because of sexual regret, and that Scarlett suffers from a medical condition that creates false memories; according to the reporters, Scarlett’s medical records indicate no such condition. Some Gaiman fans on social media have claimed that the podcast weasel-worded its attribution for the claim about Scarlett, one they find inflammatory for its resemblance to patriarchal arguments that various troublesome women must be suffering from hysteria or some other mental illness. From the podcast: “Neil Gaiman’s account suggests we should treat Scarlett’s allegations with caution, as they first surfaced when she was hospitalized, he says, for the treatment of a condition that’s associated with false memories.” The phrase “Neil Gaiman’s account suggests” seems straightforward enough, and “he says” seems very straightforward. The podcast also makes the point that Scarlett had told her story before being hospitalized.
Enthusiastic texts. Gaiman’s denials are helped by friendly emails that K. sent him for a decade or so after their breakup, and by a long series of enthusiastic, even fervent, communications sent by Scarlett over the course of 11 months. The podcasters don’t say how many emails K. gave them, though they do say Gaiman claims that he and K. exchanged hundreds. Scarlett supplied the reporters with texts and what the podcast describes as “Scarlett’s full WhatsApp history with Neil Gaiman. Not just one or two messages but everything.” This trove comprises “files of photos and videos and pages and pages of messages” and the “unedited transcripts” of the exchanges. Scarlett says the communications between her and the writer continued until the final week of 2022, when she broke off contact. All the messages quoted here were read aloud on the podcast and transcribed for this article.
The day after their first encounter, when Gaiman’s fingers allegedly entered her rectum against her will, Scarlett texted a friend, “I know it crossed boundaries.” She says she Googled “Neil Gaiman me too.” But she texted Gaiman, “Thank you for a lovely, lovely night. Wow.” Their second encounter came that evening. After she put his son to bed, she says, he sodomized her; she says he did this with butter as a lubricant and without a condom or permission. Two days later she texted him, “I am consumed by thoughts of you, the things you will do to me. I am so hungry. What a terrible creature you’ve turned me into. I think you have to give me a huge spanking very soon, I am desperate for my master.” She texted a friend, “I’ve had a crazy weekend, from getting bitten by a spider to ridiculously crazy and rough and kind of amazing sex.”
Three weeks later, after Gaiman’s departure from New Zealand, Scarlett and the writer began a stream of WhatsApp messages. His tended to be circumspect, hers didn’t. An early one: “I may be ill but I am lying here with my sick little mind wandering into terrible filthy dark places and I want you to, if I’m lucky, occasionally instruct me with naughty things to do so that I can fill all this alone time imagining your cruelty. I’m sorry I’m such a desperate and perverted and kinky sad little girl. What do they say, when you play with fire?”
The standout exchange came on March 24. Gaiman said his wife had told him that Scarlett was making accusations. Gaiman: “Honestly when Amanda told me that you were telling people I’d raped you and were planning to Me Too me, I wanted to kill myself. But I’m getting through it a day at a time. And it’s been two weeks now and I’m still here, fragile but [inaudible].” What follows are highlights excerpted from the ensuing back-and-forth. Scarlett: “I never said that… Me Too you? Rape? What? This is the first I’ve heard of this” and “Ok, it’s been blown way out of proportion it seems… I have never used the word rape. I am just so shocked, I honestly don’t know what to say.” Gaiman: “It was very unstabilizing. I spent a week actively not killing myself, if you see what I mean.” Scarlett: “It’s absolutely not true, I feel sick to my stomach” and “I have told Amanda that even though it began questionably, eventually it was undoubtedly consensual and I enjoyed it.” Gaiman asked Scarlett to say as much to a third party, this being Wayne Muller, who was therapist to both Gaiman and his wife. Scarlett did so by phone (Muller didn’t respond to the podcast’s questions).
On March 26, with further prompting from Gaiman, Scarlett wrote: “It was consensual. How many times do I have to fucking tell everyone?” About six weeks later, on May 10, Gaiman was still hinting at his precarious state (“still alive”).
Gaiman says their exchanges are clear and should be taken at face value. The podcast presents Scarlett’s neediness and fragility as the underlying explanation for her behavior, including the messages. Scarlett says Gaiman and Palmer “made me feel part of the family. They made me feel completely, deeply connected with them.” A friend reads for the podcast a message in which she describes Scarlett as “one of the most vulnerable people I have ever met. I know the thing she most desperately wants is to feel included and loved, to be part of a family, that she would do anything, take any amount of shit, in order to not be rejected.”
What Palmer knew. Palmer ignored questions from the podcast reporters, but they suggest that her reason for warning Gaiman was the message quoted just above. For her part Scarlett says she confided in Palmer about the affair, but she doesn’t mention making any threats.
Scarlett says that she talked with the rock star on March 7, that the conversation lasted past midnight, and that Palmer then paced the floor all night. Scarlett recalls beginning gingerly and saying Palmer’s departed husband had “made a pass” at her, with Palmer replying, “I bet he did.” Scarlett says she then unloaded the full story and that Palmer told her she was the 14th woman, in Scarlett’s words, “that had gone to her” (presumably meaning that Scarlett was the 14th woman to tell her about such doings by Gaiman). A couple of days later Palmer texted Scarlett saying Gaiman should apologize to her. On the same day Gaiman sent Scarlett a WhatsApp message saying Palmer had told him Scarlett was upset and asking if she wanted to talk about it.
That night Scarlett told her story to a close friend and the friend’s partner; the partner is an academic specializing in issues of sexual coercion and control. Scarlett seemed to be making light of her experiences, but the couple were alarmed and urged Scarlett to see a friend of the partner’s, a more senior academic specializing in issues of sexual violence against women. The academic, Paulette Benton-Grieg, believes that Scarlett underwent “classic grooming.” (Gaiman says the academics’ training primes them to see Scarlett’s experiences as exploitation; the podcast emphasizes that none of the three told Scarlett what to think.)
At some point Palmer texted Scarlett’s friend to say it had been “a rough month for everyone.” The friend sent back the fiery reply quoted above. The friend’s message not only describes Scarlett’s vulnerability and suffering, but also accuses Palmer of knowingly putting Scarlett in harm’s way by placing her near Gaiman. It concludes, “Eventually this is all going to come out.” Palmer answered: “I did not know much of this. It is horrifying. I understand what you have said and I deeply appreciate you sharing it with me. This is a very fucking bad situation.” If Gaiman’s reference to two weeks of coping is more or less correct, and if the friend’s message did cause Palmer to warn Gaiman, the exchange between the friend and Palmer took place days after the conversation between Scarlett and Palmer.
On March 28, Palmer left New Zealand; this was days after Gaiman contacted Scarlett about his suicidal tendencies and she declared everything to have been consensual.
Hospitalized. On April 10, Scarlett checked herself into a hospital because she wanted to kill herself. In the days after, Gaiman sent her chocolates and encouraging messages and told her he was also feeling on the brink—“We have to keep each others’ heads above water.” He persuaded Fiona Shaw, an actress Scarlett had a crush on, to tape a friendly greeting that held out the promise they would meet. Whether all this was to keep Scarlett quiet or buck up her spirits seems impossible to say. The podcast doesn’t mention whether it asked Shaw what Gaiman had told her.
By this point Scarlett had begun a long process of reconsideration. She thanked Gaiman profusely for the Shaw video, but on the same day that she received it she contacted an ex-employee of Gaiman and Palmer’s, telling her that she’d undergone “pretty awful things” and asking the young woman if she had as well. The woman messaged back her concern but left it at that. Scarlett continued sending friendly messages to Gaiman.
Rent money, NDA, police. Gaiman and Palmer had left New Zealand without at any point paying Scarlett her salary. On May 10, Gaiman said he’d pay Scarlett’s rent for six months; from his phrasing, it sounds like she suggested he might help her out (“on the rent thing, that all looks great”). The next day his accountant sent her a nondisclosure agreement. She no longer worked for Gaiman or Palmer and the agreement had no end date; its start date was her first day on the job, the same day as their bathtub encounter. She signed two weeks after getting the form. Gaiman takes the line that famous people generally have employees sign NDAs. In the event, signing one failed to keep Scarlett from stepping forward.
Her reconsideration continued. In August she messaged the ex-employee again, saying she wanted to report Gaiman to the police but worried about her statements that all had been consensual. On October 21 she emailed the police without naming him. On December 28 she asked Gaiman for more rent money; she never messaged him again, saying she felt bad about accepting money after reporting him. The next month, on January 20th through 23rd of 2023, she was interviewed by police. As she feared, they found her messages to be too much of an obstacle to prosecution. In October 2023 she emailed Rachel Johnson.
Summing up. The messages to Gaiman from his two accusers pose the greatest complication in the case. Possibly K. emerged from her affair with as many good memories as bad but then found, as she told the podcasters, that the Me Too movement and her growing maturity impelled her to speak out. But her emails were no more than friendly, whereas Scarlett celebrated the very things she now says victimized her.
Still, that doesn’t settle the question. Though not easy, it’s possible to believe that somebody very young—somebody who was without money or a job, and whose close friend describes her as desperate for acceptance no matter the price—might find herself sending a spate of enthusiastic messages to some august figure while fighting the realization that this person had trampled and abused her. It’s harder to believe that a 61-year-old man could get naked with a 22-year-old girl and find she was happy about the prospect, not unless a generous share of his money had changed hands. But Gaiman says that’s what happened (absent the money) and he says it happened on the first night they met.
Alone this is enough to blow a hole in his credibility. Add the congruence of the two women’s stories, the rarity of people who relish intense pain as a recreational experience, the folly of Gaiman’s claim that a medical condition invalidates his chief accuser when that condition is found nowhere in her records, and the great absence from his writing and pronouncements of anything that would match the author’s now admitted private horndogging, and the arrow points to the women’s truthfulness and the writer’s guilt. Then there’s getting cute about David Tennant. All in all, it looks like Neil did it.