{"id":4204,"date":"2026-11-11T13:03:48","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T08:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=4204"},"modified":"2026-11-11T13:03:48","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T08:03:48","slug":"uk-childrens-author-walliams-named-as-subject-of-sexual-allegations-by-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=4204","title":{"rendered":"UK children’s author Walliams named as subject of sexual allegations by media"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Two media groups named British comedian and bestselling children\u2019s author David Walliams on Tuesday as the high-profile figure who had tried to prevent allegations of sexual misconduct from being published by saying he would take his own life if they were revealed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Guardian and ITV News said that Walliams, \u200bformerly a judge on music mogul Simon Cowell\u2019s \u201cBritain\u2019s Got Talent\u201d television show, had sought an injunction against the newspaper and the broadcaster \u200cITN, which produces ITV News.<\/p>\n

Walliams, who has sold more than 60 million books, had sought to block publication of the allegations, which he denies, primarily because he would again attempt suicide if they were made public.<\/p>\n

Reporting on the investigation on Tuesday, the Guardian said multiple women had accused Walliams of abusing his \u201cpower and position as a celebrity to prey \u200bon them for sexual purposes when they were teenagers or young women\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reuters could not independently confirm the allegations, and a lawyer for Walliams \u200bdid not reply to repeated Reuters requests for comment.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Walliams wrote to investigating journalists<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Guardian said Walliams had written a personal \u2060letter to the investigating journalists, denying abusing his position of power.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realise that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships \u200bwith \u2026\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd whilst a power imbalance is inevitable when one party is famous, abusing that power is something else entirely and it is something I \u200bnever did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not a sexual predator,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The High Court in London on November 3 rejected the application for an injunction, which had been based on arguments about Walliams\u2019 right to life and right to freedom from inhuman or degrading treatment. The court did not name him, however.<\/p>\n

Editors and media lawyers had said that granting the injunction for this reason \u200bwould have set a worrying precedent for free speech. Similar injunction requests in the past have generally been based on individuals\u2019 privacy rights.<\/p>\n

Once a November 9 deadline \u200bfor Walliams to appeal had passed, the media groups were able to publish their investigation.<\/p>\n

After being asked for a response in May ahead of publication of the allegations, Walliams \u200cexpressed a \u2060desire to kill himself and in July he attempted to do so, his lawyers told the High Court in October.<\/p>\n

They said that Walliams denied the allegations, but that \u201cshame arising from deep-rooted childhood trauma and the fear of \u2018trial by media\u2019\u201d if the investigation was published meant he was highly likely to take his own life.<\/p>\n

The High Court said in a summary of its ruling that Walliams had a \u201cserious and longstanding psychiatric vulnerability and an elevated underlying risk of suicide, independently of \u200bthe proposed publications\u201d.<\/p>\n

Judge Matthew Nicklin found \u200bin his ruling that publishing the \u2060allegations would in fact pose a risk to Walliams\u2019 life, but that suicide was not inevitable.<\/p>\n

He said the duty to protect Walliams had been assumed by the mental health services looking after him, not the court.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Bestselling author dropped by publisher<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Walliams found fame on British television alongside creative partner Matt Lucas in the early 2000s with shows including the \u200bcomedy sketch series \u201cLittle Britain\u201d \u2060before launching a career as a children\u2019s author, with books such as \u201cThe Boy in the Dress\u201d and \u201cGangsta Granny\u201d.<\/p>\n

He went on to appear on \u201cBritain\u2019s Got Talent\u201d but left in 2022 after remarks he made on the show were leaked, and he later apologised for \u201cdisrespectful comments\u201d about contestants.<\/p>\n

Publisher HarperCollins UK dropped him<\/a> in December 2025 after the Daily \u2060Telegraph reported \u200bthat the firm had investigated allegations of harassment of some of its junior female employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter careful \u200bconsideration, and under the leadership of its new CEO, HarperCollins UK has decided not to publish any new titles by David Walliams,\u201d the publisher said in December.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Walliams told the \u200bBBC at the time that he strongly denied behaving inappropriately, and that HarperCollins had never informed him of the allegations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two media groups named British comedian and bestselling children\u2019s author David Walliams on Tuesday as the high-profile figure who had tried to prevent allegations of sexual misconduct from being published by saying he would take his own life if they were revealed. The Guardian and ITV News said that Walliams, \u200bformerly a judge on music mogul Simon Cowell\u2019s \u201cBritain\u2019s Got Talent\u201d television show, had sought an injunction against the newspaper and the broadcaster \u200cITN, which produces ITV News. Walliams, who has sold more than 60 million books, had sought to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}