A former live-in nanny for writer Neil Gaiman and his wife at the time, musician Amanda Palmer, has filed a lawsuit against the now estranged couple, seeking damages of upwards of $1 million alleging that both Gaiman and Palmer “knowingly recruited, enticed, harbored, transported, and/or obtained [her] for labor or services while knowing she would be forced to engage in sexual acts as a condition of receiving the pay and housing they promised her.”
Scarlett Pavlovich, who claims to have been homeless and estranged from her own family when she was “recruited” to work for Gaiman and Palmer in 2020, was only 22 at the time. In a damning exposé published by New York Magazine in January, she states that she was raped by Gaiman and referred to as a “slave” by both the writer and his son.
Pavlovich claims that when she informed Palmer — of whom she’d been a fan — of the rape she alleges took place at the hands of her husband at the time, Palmer replied, “I bet he did.”
“Gaiman engaged in many nonconsensual sex acts with Scarlett,” the suit states, according to Variety. “Those acts were abusive and demeaning . . . Scarlett endured those acts because she would lose her job, housing, and promised future career support if she did not.”
Per the AV Club’s reporting on the lawsuit, Gaiman is being sued in Wisconsin, where he owns a home. Palmer was sued in New York and Massachusetts, where she claims residency, and Pavlovich will “proceed against Palmer only in the district of her choosing.”
According to the complaint, the damages sought by Pavlovich are “reasonably believed to be in excess of $1,000,000.00, including, without limitation, damages to physical well-being, emotional and psychological damages, past and future economic losses, past and future physical impairment damages including but not limited to PTSD, anxiety, and depression which are physical impairments of the brain, loss of career opportunities, together with punitive damages, plus prejudgment interest, attorneys’ fees, expenses, costs and disbursements.”
In the wake of the allegations against Gaiman, he was dropped by publisher Dark Horse Comics and removed from UK agent Casarotto Ramsay & Associates’ client list. Gaiman, thus far, has denied all allegations against him. Palmer, in a statement made to Instagram in January, wrote only, “As there are ongoing custody and divorce proceedings, I am not able to offer public comment. Please understand that I am first and foremost a parent. I ask for privacy at this time.”
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