'He groomed me': David Walliams accused of preying on teenage girls after losing anonymity fight
David Walliams has been named as the celebrity at the centre of a secrecy battle over sexual allegations.
The children’s author and comedian is facing multiple claims in a joint investigation by The Guardian and ITV News.
A number of women have accused him of sexually inappropriate behaviour and grooming including when they were teenagers, according to the investigation.
Walliams, 55, has denied all allegations against him, stating: “I am not a sexual predator... I have not broken the law”.
The Standard has contacted Walliams’ agents and lawyer for comment.
The three-year joint investigation revealed a number of allegations of sexual misconduct dating back to 2003.
They include one woman who described her encounter with Walliams when she was aged 15 as “sexual assault”.
Multiple other women have accused the TV personality of “grooming” them when they were teenagers, according to the investigation.
One woman alleged Walliams began contacting her when she was 15 after meeting her at a Little Britain fan event, before starting a sexual relationship with her at the age of 17, ITV News reported.
Another said she was 18 when the then 31-year-old Walliams first contacted her in 2003.
She told the investigation: “He groomed me as a young adult, I was vulnerable. He made me feel special, plying me with gifts. Then disregarding me when he didn’t get what he wanted.”
Walliams is also accused of inappropriate conduct and sexual harassment at Britain’s Got Talent and at the publisher, HarperCollins.
According to the report, Walliams denies any wrongdoing.
In a letter to the Guardian and ITV News, Walliams wrote: “Looking back, I realise that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with.
“I realise I did not always take people’s feelings properly into account. That is something I regret.
“And whilst a power imbalance is inevitable when one party is famous, abusing that power is something else entirely and it is something that I never did.”
He added: “I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law, but I am devastated that some of the women I met 10 to 20 years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me.”
The celebrity had brought legal action against Guardian News and Media (GNM), publisher of The Guardian, and Independent Television News (ITN), which produces news programmes for ITV, Channel 4, Good Morning Britain and Channel 5, to stop them publishing details of a joint-investigation.
During a two-day trial in late October, the High Court in London was told by lawyers for the media organisations that the allegations they wanted to report involved Walliam’s alleged “abuse of power and status” to contact young women and try to engage in “inappropriate and exploitative sexual activities”.
Allegations facing David Walliams
- Several teenage girls and young women have accused Walliams of preying on them in allegations dating back to 2003
- One woman described an encounter with Walliams at 15 years old as a “sexual assault”
- Another said that Walliams began contacting her when she was 15, after meeting at a Little Britain fan event, before starting a sexual relationship at 17
- He is accused of “persistently” contacting a production agency for contact details of a young woman he wanted to meet
- Several women have said that Walliams used social media platforms to initiate private contact, sending direct messages to teenage girls, and moving conversations towards sexual or intimate interactions
- A number of women allege he used his position as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent (BGT) to contact young female fans privately, invite them to his dressing room or home, and make unwanted advances
- One employee said that he saw very young female guests in Walliams’ dressing room while he was wearing only a towel
- Another employee said they received £300 from Walliams as a thank-you gift, which a senior colleague called “hush money”
- Former HarperCollins employees allege that Walliams sent inappropriate messages to junior female staff
- One employee says she raised concerns with management and HR about messages sent to a young colleague, but nothing happened
- Staff reportedly changed working arrangements to ensure young female employees did not visit Walliams’ home alone
- Walliams admits to having a sexual relationship with a junior employee who was an intern in 2017, which she subsequently described as consensual but an abuse of power
Walliams sought an injunction to prevent this broadcast and publication because of a risk that he would take his own life, following two previous suicide attempts, the court was told.
In a judgment on Tuesday, November 3, Mr Justice Nicklin dismissed the injunction bid.
But Walliams could still not be named because he was granted the right to appeal the decision.
However he missed the deadline on Monday to take his case to the Court of Appeal, leaving ITN and GNM free to publish his name in relation to their investigation.
Following the revelations, the BBC said they were in the process of removing some programmes, including Little Britain, from their platforms, whilst a review into all material featuring and written by Walliams was underway.
He was dropped by his literary agency Independent Talent Group (ITG), who said: “ITG is deeply disturbed by the allegations concerning David Walliams. Our thoughts are with anyone who has been affected.”
Walliams also had his Labour Party membership suspended on Tuesday after the accusations against him emerged.
The allegations made against Walliams on Tuesday are the lowest moment yet in the career of a man that until several years ago was considered one of showbusiness’s biggest stars, with hit TV shows and a hugely successful children’s writing career.
Walliams was a judge on Britain’s Got Talent and was dubbed the heir apparent to Roald Dahl with dozens of best-selling books.
But after damning revelations and allegations he lost his role at BGT, and lost his publishing contract with HarperCollins, amid the fallout from claims he harassed young women at the publisher. He strongly denied the claims, saying he he had "never been informed of any allegations raised against him".
"He was not party to any investigation or given any opportunity to answer questions”, a spokesperson for Walliams said in December.
His barrister told the hearing In October that Walliams “has no intention of returning to public life”.
Downing Street said the new allegations David Walliams were “deeply troubling.”
Asked about the investigation, Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s official spokesman said: “I don’t think we’ve seen the full extent of the reporting.
“They’re clearly deeply troubling allegations, and the Government will doubtless respond to them during the course of the day, I’m sure.”
* Samaritans can be contacted for free, day or night, 365 days a year, on 116 123, or visit samaritans.org to find your nearest branch.