Nov. 10 (UPI) — Comedian and former Britain’s Got Talent judge David Walliams has been accused of inappropriate relationships and grooming of young women and girls, an investigative report revealed Tuesday.
Walliams, 55, allegedly sent messages to girls as young as 15 and invited them to come to his house, according to a three-year investigation published by The Guardian and ITV News. In Britain, the age of consent is 16.
Several women accused Walliams of abusing his status as a celebrity to prey on them for sex when they were teens or young and vulnerable. Other sources told the two outlets that they experienced or saw inappropriate behavior, including at Britain’s Got Talent and his former publisher HarperCollins.
Walliams tried to get a High Court injunction to block the investigation. He denies all allegations.
Many of those who spoke to ITV News and The Guardian asked for their identities to stay anonymous for fear of retaliation or career damage.
A young woman identified as Jade began receiving messages at age 15 after she commented on his Instagram photo. They began chatting via her school email address and eventually met for coffee in London.
“I was very, very shy,” Jade said. “I was quite quiet. So, it was a lot of him asking questions. It was a bit about school, but it wasn’t long until he asked me if I’d ever had sex before. I said I hadn’t. I didn’t like talking about that sort of stuff.”
When they left, he walked with her, took her down an alley and kissed her.
“He sort of edged into the corner where we couldn’t be seen and that’s when he kissed me,” she recalled.
She said he then invited her to his house, and she went.
“I think I was still naive to what he wanted to happen. I didn’t think he would want sex, especially that quickly,” she added.
At the house, he kissed her and began touching her.
“I wasn’t ready for sex. I didn’t want to do that — with him or with anyone. I didn’t want to be touched in that way at all. I mean, I was only a 15-year-old,” Jade said.
“He said that we should wait until I’m 16 and to keep in contact. That comment will always stick out in my mind. … That’s a very strange thing to say. He obviously wanted that one thing,” Jade said.
Walliams created and starred in the hit British comedy Little Britain and later became a judge on Britain’s Got Talent. He has sold more than 50 million copies of multiple children’s books.
In September, his publisher HarperCollins said it would no longer print his books. It didn’t give a reason. Walliams left BGT in 2022 after leaked documents revealed disparaging comments he made about contestants.
Walliams sent a letter to the journalists writing the report for The Guardian and ITV.
“Looking back, I realize that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with. I realize 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.”
He added: “I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law, but I am devastated that some of the women I met 10 to 20 years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me.”
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