Lucy Beaumont has revealed that she was a whistleblower in the investigation into David Walliams after allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him. In a joint investigation by ITV News and The Guardian, Walliams is alleged to have engaged in inappropriate behaviour towards girls as young as 15. The comedian and writer denies all the claims, saying: “I am not a sexual predator... I have not broken the law.”
Beaumont's account of the allegations
Speaking to Cathy Newman on Sky News on Tuesday, November 10, the 43-year-old said she was approached by a TV worker three years ago who made allegations against Walliams. She said: “I don’t know Walliams, I haven’t worked with him but, bizarrely, it’s been a really strange day for me because, about three years ago, a young person – and it was their first job on TV – worked on a show he was on and the next show that they worked on was with me.”
“They took me aside and said, ‘I need to tell somebody something’ and confided in me.” Beaumont said the worker 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.”
Attempts to help an alleged victim
Beaumont said she subsequently found one of the alleged victims, who was in a “really bad way” and offered to help, including offering to pay legal fees relating to a non-disclosure agreement. However, the woman, who Beaumont feared would “take her own life”, declined her offer of help and support. “I did as much as I could do privately and whenever I’ve heard a rumour about anyone, I’ve done everything I can,” she told Newman.
“There’s only so much you can do. I’m not the police. Nothing seems to be illegal, but I was really worried, and I was one of the whistleblowers. I was one of the people to let The Guardian know.” She said she had never worked with Walliams or witnessed any inappropriate behaviour from him but was “worried that these girls were young”.
Call for better safeguarding in TV
Beaumont, who starred in the first series of The Celebrity Traitors, said she feared coming forward would harm her 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 said that there is “no proper duty of care” within the TV industry. “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.” Walliams, who denies all allegations, acknowledged in a statement that he sometimes “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.”
