Neil Gaiman manufacturers rape accuser ‘fantasist’ and he has WhatsApp messages that show their relationship was ‘consensual’

Neil Gaiman has branded a former nanny who accused him of rape a ‘fantasist’ and claims he has WhatsApp messages proving their relationship was ‘consensual’.

Gaiman, 64, has asked a federal court in Wisconsin to dismiss Scarlett Pavlovich’s $7million (£5.6million) lawsuit against him, alleging that his accuser has ‘fabricated a tale of abuse’.

Pavlovich, 26, has accused the British author of sexually assaulting her and claimed his estranged wife, American singer Amanda Palmer, had told her about previous complaints from more than a dozen different women.

Pavlovich’s lawsuits – filed in Wisconsin, Massachusetts and New York – claim the couple violated laws on federal human trafficking, with complaints of assault, battery and inflicting emotional distress against Gaiman and negligence against Palmer. 

The author, who called Pavlovich’s allegations ‘outrageous’, has now urged the court to dismiss her lawsuit on the grounds that it was filed in the wrong jurisdiction.

The ‘alleged conduct claimed and described in the complaint, all supposedly occurred in New Zealand‘, where he was living with his wife prior to Palmer and Gaiman announcing their divorce in 2022.

Gaiman’s motion to dismiss – which was reviewed by DailyMail.com – states that US courts have ‘no legal authority’ over the suit and argued ‘requisite discovery’ in the case would be ‘severely burdened’ if proceedings took place outside New Zealand.

Nine women have made allegations against Gaiman, but he denies any wrongdoing and says that all sexual encounters were consensual. 

Gaiman – known for creating the Stardust, Good Omens, American Gods, and Coraline works – wrote in court documents that ‘none of Pavlovich’s claims are true’.

‘She is a fantasist who has fabricated a tale of abuse against me and Ms Palmer,’ he stated, according to the filings. The author also claimed that his accuser ‘engaged in a media campaign to publicize her alleged claims before filing the complaint’. 

Gaiman said that shortly after hiring Pavlovich in February 2022 to look after his son with Palmer, they engaged in ‘sexual activity’, which he said was consensual – providing proof to the court of text messages between the pair.

The messages, which were sent between 2022 and early 2023, demonstrate that ‘Pavlovich was an enthusiastic participant who initiated many of our sexual encounters,’ the court filing states. 

In one message to the author, Pavlovich says: ‘It was consensual. How many times do I have to f***ing tell everyone?’

In another she referred to the MeToo movement which started with female actors making allegations of abuse against powerful men in Hollywood.

Pavlovich wrote: ‘I think you’re a wonderful person and a friend. I would never MeToo you.’

She added: ‘I don’t know where that came from, and I have told Amanda that even though it began questionably, eventually, it was undoubtedly consensual and I enjoyed it.’ 

Gaiman’s attorneys, in the filing to dismiss the case, argued that Pavlovich must go through ‘New Zealand’s available remedies prior to bringing a lawsuit in the US’.

His team, arguing the ‘majority of evidence’ is in New Zealand, also named people who could be called on as witnesses. The filing also featured a copy of Pavlovich’s contract, which includes a ‘strict confidentiality’ clause. 

Pavlovich, in her three scathing lawsuits, alleges Gaiman forced her into sexual encounters with him as a condition of her employment as the couple’s live-in nanny. 

The complaints detail alleged violent assaults by Gaiman dating back to 2022 when Palmer asked her to babysit for them at their home in New Zealand.

Pavlovich further accuses Palmer of being privy to her husband’s sexual desires and presenting her to him with knowledge that he would assault her, according the suits.

She is seeking at least $7million compensation, alleging that she did not consent to degrading, violent and rough sex while working for the pair. 

A police report was made in New Zealand accusing Gaiman of sexual assault in 2023, with officers later dropping the investigation – which the author notes in his filing to the Wisconsin court.

Palmer previously wrote on Instagram that she ‘will not respond to the specific allegations being made against me except to say that I deny the allegations’, and added that her ‘heart goes out to all survivors’.

Pavlovich – who is studying history of art at St Andrews in Scotland – recently appeared on a Tortoise Media podcast hosted by the writer Rachel Johnson.

Johnson said the flirtatious texts appear to support Gaiman’s account that the relationship was consensual.

But the student told Pavlovich: ‘The messages are really hard for me to go through because of, you know, my delusion. I’m so furious with myself.’ 

Since eight allegations were made against Gaiman in New York Magazine in January, his publisher Dark Horse Comics cancelled another comic book of the Anansi Boys series.

The UK stage adaptation of his book Coraline has also been scrapped, and the estate of English author Sir Terry Pratchett removed him from a project funding proposal for a Good Omens comic book.

In January, Netflix said that a TV series of Gaiman’s dark fantasy work The Sandman, starring British actor Tom Sturridge, will end with its second series later this year.

Following a Tortoise Media podcast that interviewed five women in July last year, a film of The Graveyard Book have also been reportedly shelved, and the continuation of Good Omens starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen has been said to have been reduced.

In a blog post, Gaiman said he had read the allegations, which he denies, with ‘horror and dismay’ and said he was ‘not as thoughtful as I could or should have been’ and he is still ‘learning’.

He also wrote: ‘I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever.’

Lawyers for Gaiman and Pavlovich have been approached for comment.