Neil Gaiman breaks silence on assault allegations: 'I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity'

Neil Gaiman is addressing the multiple sexual abuse and assault allegations against him.

In a post published on his personal website Tuesday under the title "Breaking the Silence," the best-selling fantasy author, 64, said that he's "far from a perfect person" but denied ever engaging in "non-consensual sexual activity with anyone."

Gaiman's post came a day after New York magazine published a cover story in which multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct.

"As I read through this latest collection of accounts, there are moments I half-recognize and moments I don’t, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen," Gaiman wrote. "I'm far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever."

Related: Good Omens to end with final super-sized episode after Neil Gaiman allegations

Allegations against Gaiman previously surfaced last summer in a podcast titled Master, from the U.K.-based media organization Tortoise, but journalist Lila Shapiro's new reported feature in New York expanded on them and also featured two accusers, Scarlett Pavlovich and Caroline Wallner, going on the record.

Pavlovich told New York that she was brought on as a nanny for Gaiman and his estranged wife, musician Amanda Palmer, at their New Zealand homes in 2022. She alleged that Gaiman sexually harassed her on her first day working for him, and though she consented to later sexual encounters and moved in with him, he still committed sexual acts without her consent, such as anal sex without lubrication and making her lick feces off of his body.

Both Pavlovich and Wallner alleged that Gaiman made sexual advances toward them while his young son was present in the same room. Gaiman denied those allegations to New York through a representative, calling them "deplorable."

Gaiman is a well-known English author, primarily of fantasy novels like American Gods and comic books like The Sandman. Many of his works have been adapted for movies and TV, though the allegations against him have impacted some of his screen projects. The third and final season of Amazon Prime Video's adaptation of Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's novel Good Omens, on which Gaiman was showrunner, has been reduced to one episode, and Gaiman will not be involved in the production.

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In his post Tuesday, Gaiman wrote, "Like most of us, I'm learning, and I'm trying to do the work needed, and I know that that's not an overnight process. I hope that with the help of good people, I'll continue to grow. I understand that not everyone will believe me or even care what I say but I’ll be doing the work anyway, for myself, my family and the people I love. I will be doing my very best to deserve their trust, as well as the trust of my readers."

He added, "At the same time, as I reflect on my past — and as I re-review everything that actually happened as opposed to what is being alleged — I don't accept there was any abuse. To repeat, I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone."

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