Several women have accused The Sandman and Coraline author Neil Gaiman of sexual assault in a New York Magazine cover story, speaking privately about their experiences.

Back in July, Tortoise Media broke the news that Gaiman had been accused of sexual assault by two women and released a six-part podcast called “Master” that addressed the allegations from five women. However, some of the women had only used their first names or pseudonyms to protect their identities, and a major news organization had yet to confirm the full extent of the reporting – until now.

In the New York Magazine article titled “There Is No Safe Word,” reporter Lila Shapiro spoke to eight women who had similar experiences with Gaiman, four of whom also participated in Tortoise’s podcast. One of those women, Scarlett Pavlovich, was 22 when she first met Gaiman’s ex-wife, Amanda Palmer, in New Zealand. They struck up a friendship before Palmer asked Pavlovich to help babysit her and Gaiman’s five-year-old child. Pavlovich said that when she first met Gaiman, while he was waiting for the child to finish playing, he offered her a bath in a claw-foot tub in his yard. She claims he then sat naked with her in the tub, asked her to sit on his lap and sexually assaulted her.

“He stuck his fingers right up my ass and tried to put his penis up my ass. And I said, “No, no.” Then he tried to rub his penis between my breasts and I said “No” too. Then he asked if he could kick me in the face and I said ‘No,’ but he did it anyway,” Pavlovich told New York Mag. “He said, ‘Call me ‘Master’ and I’ll come.” He said, ‘Be a good girl.'” You’re a good little girl.'”

Pavlovich claims this continued for the rest of the time she babysat for the family, including one instance where he allegedly tried to have anal sex with her using butter as a lubricant.

“When it was over, he called her ‘slave’ and ordered her to ‘clean him up,'” the article says. “She protested that it wasn’t hygienic. “He said, ‘Are you resisting your master?’” she recalls. ‘I had to lick my own shit.'”

Representatives for Gaiman told the Tortoise podcast that “sexual humiliation, bondage, dominance, sadism and masochism may not be for everyone, but BDSM is allowed between consenting adults.” Although the New York Magazine article states that all accusers At some point they played along by calling him “master” as he requested and continued to communicate with him, the women claim that consent and specific BDSM activities were not discussed and had been agreed upon before they happened.

At another time, Gaiman was staying at a hotel in Auckland with his son and asked Pavlovich to look after the child while he got a massage. She claims he then had sex with her while his son was in the room and continued to talk to him during the act. Pavlovich says she asked Gaiman, “What the hell are you doing?” and was in a “state of shock” during the incident.

Since publishing the Tortoise podcast, Gaiman has strenuously denied all allegations made against him, maintaining that all relationships were consensual. In a statement responding to Pavlovich’s claim about the hotel room incident, his representatives called it “false, not to mention regrettable.” Gaiman’s representatives did not immediately respond diversityRequest further comments on the New York Magazine article.

However, Pavlovich remained in contact with Gaiman after this point, even assuring him at one point that their interactions had been consensual. She eventually agreed to sign an NDA and received a total of $9,200 in nine separate payments, according to NY Mag. In January 2023, she filed a police report accusing him of sexual assault, but “the matter has since been closed,” a police spokesperson told NY Mag.

Caroline, who chose to be identified only by her first name, also signed a nondisclosure agreement following her experience with Gaiman. She worked as a caretaker and sometimes babysitter at Gaiman’s estate in Woodstock, NY, and the two began a physical relationship after her husband left her in December 2017.

According to NY Mag, Caroline once fell asleep reading stories to the child in Gaiman’s bed. When he returned, “he lay down in bed with his son in the middle, then reached over the child to grab Caroline’s hand and place it on his penis,” according to the NY Mag story. Caroline says, she jumped out of bed. “He had no boundaries,” Caroline told NY Mag. “I remember thinking there was something really wrong with him.”

In December 2021, Caroline claims Gaiman’s business manager offered her $5,000 to sign a non-disclosure agreement and leave the property. She asked for a much larger sum – $300,000 – to which Gaiman agreed. His representatives told NY Mag that “Caroline initiated the sexual encounters” and denied “that he engaged in any sexual activity with her in the presence of his son.”

Another accuser is Kendra Stout, who was 18 when she first met Gaiman at a book signing in Florida. About three years later their relationship became physical and in 2007 she claims he raped her during a trip to the Cornish countryside after she repeatedly told him “no” because of a bad urinary tract infection. According to NY Mag, Stout filed a police report in October.

Katherine Kendall, who was 22 when she first met Gaiman in 2012, also came forward to claim that Gaiman tried to attack her on his tour bus after she told him she didn’t want to have sex with him . New York Magazine reports that years later he gave her $60,000 for therapy to, as he put it in a recorded phone call, “make up for the damage.”

As the NY Mag article states, several of Gaiman’s film and television projects have been affected since the bombshell Tortoise report in July. The third season of Prime Video’s Good Omens now concludes with a 90-minute episode, although Gaiman is not part of the production. Disney has paused production on its film adaptation of “The Graveyard Book” and Netflix has canceled “Dead Boy Detectives,” although it is unclear whether this is related to the allegations. However, “The Sandman” season 2 is still expected to arrive on Netflix this year, in addition to Prime Video’s series adaptation “Anansi Boys” (Netflix and Prime Video did not immediately respond). diversity‘s request for comment on the status of these shows).