The Sandman famed author Neil Gaiman finally responds, ‘I’m far from a perfect person, but…’

Neil Gaiman denies sexual misconduct allegations made by eight women, insisting he never engaged in non-consensual activity.

Best-selling author Neil Gaiman has denied allegations of sexual misconduct, saying he has “never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever”.

Author Neil Gaiman has denied allegations of sexual assault (Ian West/PA)

Allegations made by eight women against the 64-year-old, which include claims he sexually assaulted a woman in a bath, were published in New York Magazine on Monday, with five women’s claims having first been reported on a Tortoise Media podcast called Master last year. In a blog post on Tuesday, the British-born The Sandman author said he had read the allegations with “horror and dismay”.

He wrote: “I’ve stayed quiet until now, both out of respect for the people who were sharing their stories and out of a desire not to draw even more attention to a lot of misinformation.

“I’ve always tried to be a private person, and felt increasingly that social media was the wrong place to talk about important personal matters. I’ve now reached the point where I feel that I should say something.

“As I read through this latest collection of accounts, there are moments I half-recognise and moments I don’t, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen.

Gaiman finally responds to sexual misconduct allegations

“I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever.” Gaiman said he had read back text messages from the time of the alleged incidents and felt they were “of two people enjoying entirely consensual sexual relationships”.

He said that while reading through them, he realised he “could have and should have done so much better”, adding he was “not as thoughtful as I could or should have been”.

He continued: “I was obviously careless with people’s hearts and feelings, and that’s something that I really, deeply regret. It was selfish of me. I was caught up in my own story and I ignored other people’s. “I’ve spent some months now taking a long, hard look at who I have been and how I have made people feel.

“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.” The author said he understood that “not everyone will believe me” and added he would be “doing my very best to deserve their trust, as well as the trust of my readers”. He claimed some of the allegations “simply never happened” while others had been “distorted” to “bear no relationship to reality”, but said he would “take responsibility for any missteps I made”.

Gaiman's film and TV projects impacted by sexual assault claims

In the New York Magazine report, one of the women claimed she had been babysitting Gaiman’s five-year-old child, when she alleged the author offered her a bath in his garden before then joining her naked, and asking her to sit on his lap. She claimed he then sexually assaulted her. The article claims all of the accusers had been willing to engage with Gaiman’s requests to some extent by calling him “master”, but the women allege that consent and specific BDSM activities, which they say took place, had not been discussed and agreed on before they happened.

Gaiman’s representatives had previously told Tortoise Media that “sexual degradation, bondage, domination, sadism and masochism may not be to everyone’s taste, but between consenting adults, BDSM is lawful”.

A police report accusing Gaiman of sexual assault was made in January 2023, but the investigation was eventually dropped.

Gaiman is known for books such as Coraline, American Gods and The Sandman, all of which have been adapted for the cinema or television. Since the allegations first surfaced, several film and TV adaptations of Gaiman’s stories have reportedly been affected, including season three of Good Omens – which he jointly wrote with Terry Pratchett – and a film of The Graveyard Book.