The spouse on the centre of Neil Gaiman nanny ‘rape scandal’ – so, how a lot did she know? Amanda Palmer had intercourse with feminine fan who she ‘gave to her husband like a toy’ and ‘knew about 14 victims’, bombshell report claims

Provocative shock rocker and outsider artist Amanda Palmer has built a career boosted by seven-figure sums in donations from a devoted online fanbase.

Yet now many are turning on her, accusing the cult performer and committed crowdfunder of ‘complicity’ as her ex-husband Neil Gaiman faces new claims of rape and sexual assaults against multiple alleged victims.

New York-born Palmer, 48, was married to the British bestselling fantasy author and TV writer Gaiman between 2011 and 2022 – but a new investigation has linked her to alleged abuse by her ex-husband following their break-up.

Palmer, who set a record in 2012 for most funds raised on Kickstarter as she generated almost £1.2million from wellwishers, has remained prolific on Instagram in recent days – including promoting appeals for victims of the Los Angeles wildfires.

Yet she is facing a mounting backlash in response, with former admirers expressing disgust at the new accusations against Gaiman – and raising questions about how much she might have known.

One fan with whom Palmer had an affair has said she was then passed on to Gaiman ‘like a toy’ – while former family nanny Scarlett Pavlovich has accused him of raping her in a bathtub at his home in Waiheke, New Zealand.

Gaiman, 64, who was born in Portchester in Hampshire and grew up in East Grinstead, East Sussex, has vehemently denied all allegations.

He is the author of books including The Sandman, American Gods and the children’s book Coraline, and co-wrote Good Omens with author Terry Pratchett, which was later turned into a television series by the BBC and Amazon.

Five women came forward in July accusing him of sexual assault which led to the third season of Good Omens being scrapped.

Now, a shocking new report from Vulture magazine has revealed disturbing details from additional women who claimed Gaiman assaulted them, which he denies.

And the claims have sparked calls for Palmer to speak out, as her connections to some of his alleged victims were outlined – and it was suggested that she told one alleged victim in 2022: ‘Fourteen people have come to me about this.’

Followers have responded to her Instagram posts over the past week, which have included selfies as well as LA wildfire appeals, with replies urging her to make a public statement regarding the latest allegations against Gaiman – while it was suggested that she was subsequently blocking comments.

One poster said: ‘Getting more and more disappointed. Why do you think deleting and blocking comments will do any good? We need a statement, anything.

Another wrote: ‘Keep turning off comments from the people who gave you money, bought your albums, paid your Kickstarter, bought your tone deaf book, went to your shows, paid your Patreon, etc etc etc. Great look.’

Palmer was also told: ‘I am still trying SO hard to give you the benefit of the doubt. I AM worried about you. I want you to be okay as much as I want those 14 girls to be okay.

‘However. You cannot, CANNOT keep doing the work youve done to advocate for women and survivors of SA without a very long, thought out discussion about this NOT ON PATREON. NOT BEHIND A PAY WALL.

‘I absolutely f***ing loved you, and defended you to the ends of the earth, but now I am so, so disappointed.’

Another commented: ‘YOU WERE COMPLICIT IN THIS?! You’ve been a strength and inspiration to me and KNOWING WHAT HE WAS LIKE you presented him these vulnerable victims like gifts.

‘WE ARE F***ING DONE. I’ve said I love you over the years. I do not love you anymore. Not even remotely.’

Other posts included ‘Really, truly disappointed in you’ and ‘I really looked up to you growing up. How dare you!!!’.

Ms Pavlovich has revealed she filed a police report in 2023 accusing Gaiman of sexual assault, and urged police to contact Palmer as part of their investigation.

She told Vulture: ‘I said to them: “She’s a public feminist, and she knows what happened. She’ll want to protect me. I’m sure she’ll speak.”‘

But Palmer is said to have declined to talk with officers when they contacted her later that year, while Gaiman provided a written statement and the investigation ended.

Ms Pavlovich has described how she was first introduced to Gaiman by Palmer, after striking up conversation with the singer in an Auckland street in June 2020.

The pair became friends and often socialised, before Palmer is said to have texted Ms Pavlovich in February 2022 and asked her to help babysitting between her own home and her estranged husband’s in New Zealand.

Palmer and Gaiman had announced their plans to divorce the previous November, saying in a joint statement it was a ‘difficult decision’ and that they would ‘remain in one another’s lives as co-parents committed to raising our wonderful son in a loving and compassionate environment’.

Ms Pavlovich has now alleged Gaiman raped her in an outdoor bathtub while she was nannying the son he shares with Palmer, on February 4 2022.

She said Gaiman encouraged her to take a bath after they had finished dinner despite her resistance.

After she stripped down and got in, she claimed Gaiman got naked and joined – and while he was in the tub, Ms Pavlovich said he told her to stretch out.

She told Vulture: ‘I said, “no” – I said, “I’m not confident with my body”. He said, “It’s okay – it’s only me. Just relax. Just have a chat.”‘

Ms Pavlovich said the situation escalated from there and Gaiman sexually assaulted her – describing that he penetrated her with his fingers, before attempting to do so with his penis, all while she told him no.

Pavlovich recalled how as Gaiman was climaxing, he asked if he could ejaculate on a certain part of her body – to which she declined, but she claims he did so anyway.

He allegedly told her during the act: ‘Call me master. Be a good girl. You’re a good little girl.’

She says Gaiman also told her: ‘Amanda told me I couldn’t have you. God, I wish it were the good old days where we could both f*** you.’

Ms Pavlovich recalled how she cried and Googled ‘Me Too’ and ‘Neil Gaiman’ in the hours after the bathtub ordeal.

Despite what she allegedly endured, Palmer and Gaiman offered Ms Pavlovich the chance to move to England and Scotland with them to continue her nannying job, to which she agreed.

After Palmer offered the role, Ms Pavlovich texted Gaiman to say ‘I am consumed by thoughts of you, the things you will do to me. I’m so hungry. What a terrible creature you’ve turned me into,’ according to Vulture.

In another incident, which occurred at a home on the New Zealand island of Waiheke, Pavlovich said Gaiman assaulted her while she was cleaning up the kitchen.

She said the author approached her from behind, pushed down her pants, began to beat her with his belt and then tried to penetrate her anally without lubrication.

Ms Pavlovich alleged that, after she said no, he grabbed butter out of the kitchen and used that as lubrication and penetrated her without using protection.

And she claimed that when the rape was over he called her ‘slave’ and ordered her to ‘clean him up’.

The allegations published by the magazine detailed how Gaiman’s alleged horror would continue, night after night – causing the evenings of abuse to ‘blur together’.

Pavlovich claimed she would pass out from the pain of the sexual encounters, and recalled one instance when he was so forceful that she vomited over him – before he told her to lick it up.

The abuse would allegedly occur while Gaiman’s young son was in the room, she said.

The author’s representatives told the magazine the claims are ‘false, not to mention, deplorable.’

Weeks later, Ms Pavlovich said she received an NDA dated to the first night of her employment – the date of the bathtub ordeal.

The woman said she signed the document, and received a bank transfer from Gaiman for $1,700 for her babysitting work, and soon after she received the first of nine payments totaling about $9,200.

She also described telling Palmer in March 2022 about how Gaiman had made a pass at her in the bathtub the previous month and how they had gone on to have sex since then.

Ms Pavlovich says she did not did not describe her experiences as sexual assault at the time, and also that Palmer did not seem to be surprised – allegedly replying: ‘Fourteen people have come to me about this.’

Another woman who has accused Gaiman of sexually assaulting her, mother-of-three Caroline Wallner, told Vulture of Palmer confiding in her about her and Gaiman’s marriage troubles around 2014.

Ms Wallner recalled Palmer saying to her: ‘You have no idea the twisted, dark things that go on in that man’s head.’ 

She has previously spoken after The Tortoise podcast, hosted by journalist and broadcaster Rachel Johnson, first broke the news of allegations of sexual abuse by Gaiman last July.

Ms Wallner said Gaiman pressured her to have sex with him in return for allowing her live with her daughters at his property in New York. 

She alleged it took place over a four year period from 2017, after she split from her ex-husband. Gaiman insists the relationship was consensual.

Now another alleged victim, called Rachel, is said to have had an affair first with Palmer in 2012 – before the singer reportedly then introduced her to Gaiman online, saying: ‘He’ll love you.’

Rachel described going on to have a sexual relationship with Gaiman but told Vulture it felt like Palmer had given her to him ‘like a toy’. 

She told of having asked Palmer by email for advice on pleasing the author in bed, and receiving the response: ‘I think the fun is finding out on your own.’

Palmer, one of half of the ‘punk cabaret’ duet the Dresden Dolls, began dating Gaiman in 2009, before they wed in January 2011.

They have previously told how they decided not to be monogamous from the start of their relationship – but Palmer later said they ‘shut down’ the open aspect of their marriage ‘for the time being’ when their son was four.

She said in an interview in 2019: ‘The idea of only ever fooling around with one other person until the end of time has always been terrifying to me, and with Neil too, I think.’

Gaiman hit the headlines in 2020 after leaving Palmer and their son in New Zealand during Covid lockdown to travel 11,000 miles to his home on the Isle of Skye.

He said he and Palmer had found themselves ‘in a rough place’ before he left, adding: ‘My fault, I’m afraid, I’d hurt her feelings very badly and we agreed we needed to give each other some space.’ 

Palmer was Gaiman’s second wife after his marriage lasting from 1985 to 2007 to Mary McGrath, with whom he had three children.

MailOnline has contacted Amanda Palmer’s representatives for comment.