Young female employees at HarperCollins were reportedly warned not to visit David Walliams' home alone, amid a series of allegations dating back to 2003. A three-year joint investigation by ITV News and The Guardian has uncovered multiple allegations of sexual misconduct involving the comedian and author, spanning more than two decades.
Documentary Details Allegations
ITV has released a documentary, David Walliams: Power & Silence, which is due to air tonight at 10.50pm and is already available to watch on YouTube and ITVX. The hour-long documentary details several allegations against Walliams. Among them is a woman who described an encounter with the comedian when she was 15 as "sexual assault".
Several other women have accused the TV personality of "grooming" them when they were teenagers, according to the investigation. One woman alleged that Walliams began contacting her when she was 15, after meeting him at a Little Britain fan event, before beginning a sexual relationship with her when she was 17, ITV News reported.
HarperCollins Staff Accounts
Walliams has also faced allegations of inappropriate behaviour and sexual harassment during his time on Britain's Got Talent and in his dealings with publisher HarperCollins. In the documentary, a former HarperCollins employee claimed that standard working practices had to be altered when it came to Walliams, with young female members of staff never being sent to his home alone.
Katie (not her real name), who worked at the publisher, told ITV News that a junior colleague had shown her emails she had received from the author, which "she definitely wasn't pleased about." Katie said she felt it was "just not appropriate for an author to be messaging a member of staff like that," describing the interaction as "gross".
Walliams has acknowledged contacting the young woman and asking her to meet him. He said that, at the time, he was "heartbroken and lonely after his divorce and was hoping to meet someone". Katie alleged that normal working arrangements were changed specifically because of concerns surrounding Walliams. She explained that, although it was common practice for staff to visit authors' homes to collect manuscripts, there was a different approach when it came to the comedian.
Staff Safety Measures
"We would never send any of the girls on their own to his [Walliams'] flat," she told ITV News. Helen (not her real name), who worked in HarperCollins' Children's Department, also claimed that Walliams was known for attempting to obtain the contact details of female employees. She recalled an occasion at a book-signing event involving the author when her manager wanted to keep other female members of staff away from him "to keep exposure to a minimum."
Helen corroborated Katie's account, claiming there was a clear understanding among staff about visiting Walliams' property. "There was an agreement – if you went to his [Walliams'] house you had to go in a pair. You couldn't go by yourself," she said. Helen further alleged that Walliams had become known within the company as "a creep". She claimed that if he had not been the publisher's 'biggest moneymaker', "they would have got rid of him, because he would have just been some random creep called Dave".
Publisher and Walliams Respond
A spokesperson for HarperCollins told Manchester Evening News: "HarperCollins UK previously terminated its publishing relationship with David Walliams. We take the safety of our people incredibly seriously and to respect the privacy of individuals we do not comment on employee matters."
Walliams has denied sexually harassing anyone at HarperCollins or behaving inappropriately in the workplace. He has also denied abusing his position of celebrity in relationships with women, although he acknowledged that he had "behaved thoughtlessly". In a statement to The Guardian and ITV News, the comedian said: "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… I am not a sexual predator… I have not broken the law… I am devastated that some of the women I met ten to twenty years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me."
