A woman who spoke to ITV and The Guardian for their investigation into David Walliams has described the moment a celebrity's wife allegedly tried to warn her about the comedian.
The woman, identified in the documentary as model "Ella", said she was 19 when she was first contacted by Walliams, who was 36 at the time. She alleged that Walliams obtained her phone number from her agent after seeing her in a magazine, describing himself as an "admirer".
According to her account, he left a voicemail that said: "This is David Walliams. I'm a great admirer of yours from afar. I would love to take you to dinner."
Encounter at a celebrity party
Ella claimed that Walliams then sent a handwritten card and flowers to her student house and invited her to a party at his home with other celebrities. She told ITV News that some of the high-profile guests appeared uncomfortable in her presence.
"One of the guests' wives did pull me aside and was like, you know, you're very young, be careful. Be careful," she said.
She alleged that Walliams insisted on giving her a tour of his house and was "really persistent" about it. She recalled that they went into the bedroom, where she felt him come up close behind her. When she turned around, she said, his hands were placed at either side of the window. He went in for a kiss, and she ducked and ran away.
Walliams denies allegations
The allegations are part of a broader investigation by ITV and The Guardian into Walliams, the former Britain's Got Talent judge. On November 3, Mr Justice Nicklin dismissed Walliams' bid for an injunction to prevent publication, ruling it would be an "exceptionally serious interference" with freedom of expression.
Walliams denies the allegations. In a letter understood to have been sent to journalists several months ago, he 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."
He added: "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. 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."
