David Walliams Denies Claims He Preyed on Teens in ITVX Film
A three-year investigation alleges comedian and author David Walliams preyed on teenage girls and young women from 2003. He denies all allegations. The findings are in a documentary available on ITVX and YouTube, which Walliams tried to block with a High Court injunction.
British comedian and children's author David Walliams is accused of preying on teenage girls and young women for sexual purposes, in a documentary now streaming on ITVX and YouTube. Walliams denies every allegation.
The film, titled David Walliams: Power and Silence, follows a three-year joint investigation by journalists. It reports allegations dating back to 2003.
Walliams tried to stop the work with a High Court injunction, according to the investigators. He denies all allegations, including any criminal behavior. "I am not a sexual predator... I have not broken the law," he said.
What the women allege
Multiple women accuse Walliams of "grooming" them when they were teenagers. One says he began contacting her at 15, after she met him at a Little Britain fan event. She says a sexual relationship began when she was 17.
Another woman, identified only as Jade, describes an alleged encounter at 15 as "a sexual assault." She says she commented on a photo of Walliams on MySpace in mid-2007 and then received a private message from him.
Her date of birth was visible on her profile, showing she was 15, she claims. Jade says she ignored the first message, then replied to a second. He asked for her number and called from a withheld line within minutes, she says.
"You get this celebrity approaching you - that's a whole different level of attention," Jade said. "Then you think, I must be a bit special in a way."
She says they kept in touch by email, often through her school account. After Walliams' 36th birthday in late August, she says they arranged to meet in Soho, London. She says he had already ordered her a coffee when she arrived.
Claims at work
The investigation also alleges inappropriate conduct and sexual harassment at Britain's Got Talent and at his publisher, HarperCollins. It reports that he had a sexual relationship with at least one junior HarperCollins employee and pursued another.
Dozens of other sources say they experienced or saw behavior they allege was inappropriate, including at the talent show and the publisher.
Many of the women and men interviewed asked for their identities to be protected. Some fear legal retaliation from Walliams or damage to their careers, and their pseudonyms are marked with an asterisk.
At the time of the alleged contact with Jade, Walliams was at the peak of his Little Britain fame. He had just won the Pride of Britain Award for "Britain's Most Influential Public Figure" after raising more than £1 million for Sport Relief by swimming the English Channel.
