Comedian Lucy Beaumont has received a wave of support from fans and industry peers after revealing she was a whistleblower in the investigation into David Walliams, with her book selling out and tour tickets being snapped up.
The 43-year-old revealed earlier this week that she gave information to journalists from ITV News and The Guardian investigating Walliams after allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him. Walliams has denied all the allegations. In a letter to journalists investigating the claims, he said: "I am not a sexual predator... I have not broken the law."
Beaumont said she believed coming forward would end her career, but fans have instead rallied around the star, buying her book in mass and purchasing tickets for her ongoing comedy tour.
Who is Lucy Beaumont?
The 43-year-old comedian was born in Truro, Cornwall, whilst her parents were away on holiday. She was raised in Hull, and many of her comedy sets feature references to her beloved hometown. She attended the University of Hull before having a brief acting career, then turned her hand to comedy, initially as an attempt to conquer her stage fright.
Her first gig was for the 2011 So You Think You're Funny competition, where she finished in joint third. Just a year later, she won the BBC Radio New Comedy Award in 2012 for her debut gig, and in 2014, she received an Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Newcomer nomination for her debut show, We Can Twerk It Out.
In 2015, she married fellow comedian Jon Richardson, and the pair went on to star in several shows together. Their series Meet The Richardsons, where they play "exaggerated versions of themselves" in a "fictional view of their life together", lasted for five seasons from 2020 to 2024. However, in 2024, the couple announced they would be separating after nine years of marriage, a decision they described as "amicable but difficult". The pair share a 10-year-old daughter named Elsie.
What did Lucy Beaumont say about David Walliams?
On Tuesday, November 10, Beaumont revealed she was a whistleblower on Walliams, coming forward after a TV worker approached her and claimed that their job was to take "young girls" to Walliams' dressing room. "He felt they were vulnerable," the young worker allegedly told the comedian.
"At the time, he didn't think there was a process, a way to let people know within the TV company what was happening and how he felt and I was really worried," Beaumont said. She said she believed speaking out would end her TV career.
"The reason high-profile people are not saying anything is because they lose work, because you're seen that you might be a trouble causer. It does need to be said that there needs to be some intervention," she told Cathy Newman on Sky News. She said there is "no proper duty of care" within the TV industry, adding: "These things slip through the net because, I think there will be now, but there hasn't been a process that you can deal with."
UK consent laws 'insanity'
Beaumont has also called out the "insanity" of UK consent laws. She has thrown her support behind the Close The Consent Gap Campaign, which aims to change the law that "legally allows adults to have sex with children". Under UK law, adults of any age are legally able to have sex with 16 and 17-year-olds.
In a post on Instagram, Beaumont urged others to follow @closetheconsentgap and wrote: "If you have a 12-year-old daughter, in four years a man in his 60s can legally have sex with her. It's hard for me to write this, and I'm sure, for the majority of us, it's hard for us to read it. But we have to. He is not a criminal. We can't prosecute him. But the insanity of it, the law agrees with us; she's still thought of as a child. He can't legally buy her a drink, and he can't have a nude image of her. But he can sleep with her. And f*** her life up."
What has the public's reaction been?
Beaumont has since received a wave of support online, with both peers and fans praising the star for speaking out on Walliams. Fellow Celebrity Traitors star Paloma Faith said: "Thank you, you are very special", whilst series winner Alan Carr also applauded her. "You are my hero," added reality TV star and presenter Vicky Pattison.
A fan added online: "Lucy Beaumont is a hero and I hope her TV career goes from strength to strength following her whistleblowing." And it's not just words of encouragement that fans are issuing to the star, with many choosing to support her business endeavours. Beaumont's book, Drinking Custard: The Diary of a Confused Mum, is sold out on Amazon in both hardback and paperback. Meanwhile, fans have also been scooping up tickets for her ongoing comedy tour, Bad at Quiz Shows, Good with Weirdos, with only a dozen tickets left for her January 17 show in Bromley, London, as of writing on Friday, November 13.
