US judges dismiss lawsuits accusing fantasy author Neil Gaiman of sexual
assault in New Zealand
[February 10, 2026]
By TODD RICHMOND
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Federal judges have dismissed three lawsuits
accusing bestselling British fantasy author Neil Gaiman of sexually
assaulting his children's nanny in New Zealand four years ago.
Scarlett Pavlovich filed a lawsuit against Gaiman and his wife, Amanda
Palmer, in Wisconsin in February 2025, accusing Gaiman of multiple
sexual assaults while she worked as the family's nanny in 2022. She
filed lawsuits against Palmer in Massachusetts and in New York on the
same day she filed the Wisconsin action.
Gaiman has a home in northwestern Wisconsin, and Palmer lives in
Massachusetts. Pavlovich moved to drop the New York lawsuit against
Palmer in May, explaining in court documents that she filed an action in
that state because Palmer had recently relocated from New York to
Massachusetts and she was unsure which state had jurisdiction. U.S.
District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil in New York City granted the request in
June.
Pavlovich also dropped the portion of the Wisconsin lawsuit against
Palmer in May, and U.S. District Judge James Peterson in Madison
dismissed the rest of it in October, saying Pavlovich needed to pursue
the case in New Zealand. U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton in Boston
threw out the Massachusetts filing on Friday on the same grounds.
Pavlovich's attorneys didn’t respond to emails from The Associated Press
seeking comment on Monday. Attorneys listed for Gaiman and Palmer didn’t
respond to messages, either.
The AP doesn't identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted
unless they publicly identify themselves. Pavlovich identified herself
in an interview with New York magazine, which published an article in
January 2025 detailing allegations of assault, abuse and coercion
leveled by eight women.
Pavlovich alleged in her lawsuits that she was 22 years old and homeless
when she met Palmer in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2020. Palmer invited
Pavlovich to the couple's Waiheke Island home, and she eventually became
their son's nanny, according to the filings.
Gaiman sexually assaulted her on the night they met in February 2022,
she alleged in the lawsuits. The assaults continued, but she kept
working for the couple because she was broke and homeless, and Gaiman
had told her that he would help her writing career, according to the
filings.
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Neil Gaiman arrives at the Art of Elysium Heaven Gala on Jan. 6,
2024, at The Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan
Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
When she told Palmer about the assaults, Palmer told her that more than
a dozen women had told her in the past that Gaiman had sexually abused
them, according to the lawsuits. The assaults finally stopped when
Pavlovich told Palmer that she was going to kill herself, according to
the filings.
Pavlovich went on to allege that Palmer knew of Gaiman's sexual desires
and presented her to him, knowing he would assault her. She argued that
Gaiman and Palmer violated federal human trafficking prohibitions and
demanded at least $7 million in damages
Gaiman released a statement after the New York magazine article was
published, denying he had ever engaged in non-consensual sex with
anyone.
Gaiman's attorneys argued in a motion to dismiss the Wisconsin lawsuit
that Gaiman and Pavlovich had a brief personal relationship that
involved “consensual physical intimacy."
Police in New Zealand investigated her assault allegations and found
them meritless, the motion says. The attorneys went on to argue that
Pavlovich's lawsuits were the culmination of a plan to smear Gaiman and
that any legal disputes should be resolved in New Zealand, not the
United States.
Gaiman has authored numerous science fiction and fantasy works,
including the novels “American Gods,” "The Graveyard Book," "Anansi
Boys" and the dark children's fairy tale “Coraline.”
His 2013 novel, “The Ocean at the End of the Lane,” won the British
National Book Award.
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