LONDON, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Two media groups named British comedian and bestselling children’s author David Walliams on Tuesday as the high-profile figure who had tried to prevent allegations of sexual misconduct being published by saying he would take his own life if they were revealed.
The Guardian and ITV News said that Walliams, formerly a judge on music mogul Simon Cowell’s “Britain’s Got Talent” television show, had sought an injunction against the newspaper and the broadcaster ITN, which produces ITV News.
Walliams, who has sold more than 60 million books, had sought to block publication of the allegations, which he denies, primarily on the grounds that he would again attempt suicide if they were made public.
Reporting on the investigation on Tuesday, the Guardian said multiple women had accused Walliams of abusing his “power and position as a celebrity to prey on them for sexual purposes when they were teenagers or young women”.
Reuters could not independently confirm the allegations, and a lawyer for Walliams did not reply to repeated Reuters requests for comment.
WALLIAMS WROTE TO INVESTIGATING JOURNALISTS
The Guardian said Walliams had written a personal letter to the investigating journalists, denying abusing his position of power.
“I realise that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with …” he wrote.
“And whilst a power imbalance is inevitable when one party is famous, abusing that power is something else entirely and it is something I never did.”
“I am not a sexual predator,” he added.
The High Court in London on November 3 rejected the application for an injunction, which had been based on arguments about Walliams’ right to life and right to freedom from inhuman or degrading treatment. The court did not name him, however.
Editors and media lawyers had said that granting the injunction for this reason would have set a worrying precedent for free speech. Similar injunction requests in the past have generally been based on individuals’ privacy rights.
Once a November 9 deadline for Walliams to appeal had passed, the media groups were able to publish their investigation.
After being asked for a response in May ahead of publication of the allegations, Walliams expressed a desire to kill himself and in July he attempted to do so, his lawyers told the High Court in October.
They said that Walliams denied the allegations, but that “shame arising from deep-rooted childhood trauma and the fear of ‘trial by media'” if the investigation was published meant he was highly likely to take his own life.
The High Court said in a summary of its ruling that Walliams had a “serious and longstanding psychiatric vulnerability and an elevated underlying risk of suicide, independently of the proposed publications”.
Judge Matthew Nicklin found in his ruling that publishing the allegations would in fact pose a risk to Walliams’ life, but that suicide was not inevitable. He said the duty to protect Walliams had been assumed by the mental health services looking after him, not the court.
BESTSELLING AUTHOR DROPPED BY PUBLISHER
Walliams found fame on British television alongside creative partner Matt Lucas in the early 2000s with shows including the comedy sketch series “Little Britain” before launching a career as a children’s author, with books such as “The Boy in the Dress” and “Gangsta Granny”.
He went on to appear on “Britain’s Got Talent” but left in 2022 after remarks he made on the show were leaked, and he later apologised for “disrespectful comments” about contestants.
Publisher HarperCollins UK dropped him in December 2025 after the Daily Telegraph reported that the firm had investigated allegations of harassment of some of its junior female employees.
“After careful consideration, and under the leadership of its new CEO, HarperCollins UK has decided not to publish any new titles by David Walliams,” the publisher said in December.
A spokesperson for Walliams told the BBC at the time that he strongly denied behaving inappropriately, and that HarperCollins had never informed him of the allegations.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
