Neil Gaiman’s ex-wife Amanda Palmer breaks silence on ‘rape scandal’ and the ‘disturbing’ accusations ‘that happened during her marriage’

The ex-wife of novelist Neil Gaiman has said she is “deeply disturbed” by allegations that he sexually abused several young women during their marriage.

Amanda Palmer, 49, has been accused by a number of victims of being aware that her British writer husband had abusive sexual relationships during the 11 years the couple spent together.

Palmer, who was married to Gaiman from 2011 to 2022, has not yet publicly addressed the specific claims against her ex-husband.

However, her representative issued a statement saying: “While Ms. Palmer is deeply troubled by the allegations that Mr. Gaiman has abused several women, her primary concern at this time is and must remain the well-being of her son . privacy, she has no comment on these allegations.”

Gaiman, 64, the award-winning writer behind Coraline and Stardust, has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

In a statement on his website, he admitted that he was “careless of people’s hearts and feelings” but insisted that all sexual encounters were consensual.

However, the allegations have sparked outrage, with author JK Rowling criticizing the literary community for its “strangely muted” response.

Some of the allegations involve disturbing claims of forced sexual relationships, with Gaiman allegedly taking on the role of “master” and his partners as “slaves.”

An alleged victim, identified as Rachel, claimed she had been Palmer’s lover before being passed off to Gaiman “like a toy.”

Another woman, Scarlett Pavlovich, has accused Gaiman of rape and sexual abuse after she was recruited by Palmer to work as a babysitter.

Pavlovich, now a student at the University of St. Andrews, claimed that Palmer did not seem surprised when she disclosed the rape to Palmer and said she was still having sexual relations with Gaiman. She allegedly replied: ‘Fourteen women came to me about this. ‘

The former babysitter also claims to have filed a police report against Gaiman in 2023, but said Palmer refused to cooperate with investigators.

Pavlovich claims Gaiman raped her in an outdoor pool on February 4, 2022, while she was babysitting the son he shares with Palmer.

The student said the author encouraged her to take a bath after dinner, despite her resistance.

After undressing and getting in, she claimed Gaiman was naked and participating. While in the bath, Pavlovich said he told her to stretch out.

‘I said ‘no’. I said, ‘I don’t have confidence in my body,'” Pavlovich said. ‘[Gaiman] said, “It’s okay, it’s just me. Just relax. Just have a chat.”‘

But Pavlovich said the situation escalated and Gaiman sexually assaulted her.

Despite the allegations, Gaiman continues to deny any wrongdoing.

Later in his website statement, he wrote: ‘Over the past few months I have watched with horror and dismay the stories circulating about me on the internet.

‘I have kept quiet until now, both out of respect for the people who shared their stories and out of the desire not to draw more attention to a lot of misinformation.

‘I’ve always tried to be a private person, and increasingly felt that social media was the wrong place to talk about important personal matters.

“I’ve reached the point now where I feel like I have to say something,” Gaiman explained.

He said he read through his accusers’ accounts of their relationship with him and discovered that “there are moments I half recognize and moments I don’t recognize, descriptions of things that happened next to things that emphatically did not happen.”

‘I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never had non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever,” Gaiman claimed.

The author also said that he even went back and read the messages he shared with the woman who accused him of sexual assault.

“These messages read now as they did when I received them – from two people who enjoy fully consensual sexual relationships and want to see each other again,” he said.

“When I had those relationships, they seemed positive and happy on both sides.

“And I also realize, reading through them years later, that I could and should have done so much better,” the Coraline writer admitted.

“I was emotionally unavailable while being sexually available, focused on myself, and not as attentive as I could or should have been.

“I was clearly careless with people’s hearts and feelings, and that’s something I really, really regret. It was selfish of me.

‘I was trapped in my own story and ignored that of others.’

He is now trying to better himself, he said.

“For several months now, I’ve been taking a long, hard look at who I’ve been and how I’ve made people feel,” Gaiman told his readers.

“Like most of us, I’m learning and trying to do the necessary work, and I know that doesn’t happen overnight.

‘I hope that I will continue to grow with the help of good people.

“I understand that not everyone will believe me or even care about what I say, but I will do the work anyway, for myself and the people I love. I will do my utmost to earn their trust, as well as the trust of my readers.’

Yet he insisted: ‘I do not accept that there is abuse.

“Again, I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual acts with anyone.”

“Some of the terrible stories now being told simply never happened, while others are so distorted from what actually happened that they bear no relation to reality,” he claimed.

“I am willing to take responsibility for any missteps I have made,” Gaiman concluded.

‘I am not willing to turn my back on the truth and I cannot accept being described as someone I am not, and cannot and will not admit that I have done things I have not done.’

The author was first accused of sexual assault by five women in July, leading to the cancellation of the third season of Amazon’s Good Omens.

Even more women have since revealed disturbing details about their encounters with the American Gods author in a shocking report from New York Magazine.

The Royal Society of Literature (RSL), which elected Gaiman a fellow in 2018, has come under scrutiny for its silence.

The organization declined to confirm whether it would revoke his membership, saying the allegations were not discussed at its recent annual meeting.