Comedian and author David Walliams allegedly had an inappropriate sexual relationship with an intern at publishing company HarperCollins and pursued another female employee before the publisher eventually ended its professional relationship with him over allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards young women.
Walliams has admitted having a consensual sexual relationship with the intern but denies sexually harassing anyone at HarperCollins or behaving inappropriately in the workplace.
The alleged relationship took place in 2017 after the young woman, who had met the author at a publishing event, was asked to visit his home alone.
At the time, it was reportedly common practice for editorial assistants and interns to visit authors’ homes to collect manuscripts.
However, a former HarperCollins employee claimed that growing concerns about Walliams’ behaviour had led to female staff members no longer being sent to his property alone.
The intern later told colleagues that although the sexual relationship was consensual, she felt it represented an abuse of power.
Former employee raises concerns over emails
The latest revelations follow an investigation by ITV News and The Guardian, which reported that Walliams had a sexual relationship with at least one junior employee at HarperCollins and pursued another.
A former employee, identified as Katie, who worked at the publishing company in 2015, said a young female colleague showed her several emails she had received from the comedian.
Katie recalled that the woman appeared uncomfortable with the attention and had no interest in Walliams.
“She was so young, I think that she would have been early 20s.
She definitely wasn’t pleased about it, definitely wasn’t interested,” she said.
Katie said she was sufficiently concerned by the messages to report the matter to two departments within the company.
She claimed that she informed her line manager and that the issue was also raised with the human resources department.
However, Katie alleged that no action followed because Walliams was commercially important to the publisher.
She said: “I told my line manager and we told HR… but because he was responsible for HarperCollins hitting their targets every year, nothing ever happened.”
HarperCollins ends publishing relationship with comedian
HarperCollins reportedly began an investigation into Walliams in late 2023, with the inquiry concluding in 2024.
The publisher subsequently dropped him in December 2025.
In September 2026, the company confirmed that it would no longer publish his books.
Responding to the investigation by ITV News and The Guardian, HarperCollins said it had already ended its publishing relationship with the author.
The company added: “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 allegations that he sexually harassed employees or engaged in inappropriate workplace conduct.
Multiple women make allegations against Walliams
The comedian is also facing allegations of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl and engaging in inappropriate sexual activities with multiple young women and girls.
The allegations concern his alleged use of his celebrity status from television programmes including Little Britain and Britain’s Got Talent to pursue young women.
Walliams denies the accusations and has told the High Court that he would take his own life if his identity were disclosed.
The latest developments come amid wider scrutiny of allegations involving public figures, following the imprisonment of his friend Russell Brand, who was sentenced to ten-and-a-half years in prison for rape.
Downing Street described the sexual misconduct allegations made against Walliams by multiple women as “deeply troubling”.
The Government also expressed concern about the use of injunctions in relation to the allegations.
Labour subsequently suspended Walliams as a party member.
Woman alleges sexual assault when she was 15
One of the women making allegations against Walliams, identified as Jade by ITV News and The Guardian, claims the comedian sexually assaulted her when she was 15.
According to her account, Walliams first contacted her online before arranging to meet her in London’s Soho.
She alleges that he subsequently drove her to his home in his Aston Martin, taking her to Supernova Heights, a mansion previously owned by Oasis musician Noel Gallagher.
Jade claimed that Walliams, who was 36 at the time, initially greeted her with a hug before kissing her.
She alleged that he then lifted her top, touched her breast with his mouth and attempted to put her hand down his trousers.
Jade said she pulled away and refused his advances.
She told the outlets that she had not been ready for sexual activity and did not want to be touched in that way.
Describing the alleged incident, she said she was only 15 and characterised the encounter as sexual assault and grooming.
Walliams expresses regret but denies abusing his position
In a statement to ITV News and The Guardian, Walliams acknowledged that some of his past relationships had involved behaviour he now regretted.
He said he had sometimes acted thoughtlessly towards people with whom he had casual sexual relationships and had not always properly considered their feelings.
The comedian acknowledged that differences in status were inevitable when one person was famous but maintained that he had never exploited such an imbalance.
He said: “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.”
Walliams also rejected the description of himself as a sexual predator and insisted that he had not broken the law.
He added that he was devastated that some women he had met between 10 and 20 years ago had since expressed feelings of hurt or anger towards him.
