HarperCollins staff warnings about David Walliams, Digi Mart USA News: Young women working at David Walliams’ former publisher HarperCollins say they were warned about his “creepy” behaviour roughly a decade ago, yet the company waited several years before investigating alleged inappropriate conduct, according to former staff members.
Several former employees told The i Paper that they believe the firm ignored longstanding concerns about the comedian because it was selling millions of his books, before eventually dropping him last year. The allegations raise further concerns that HarperCollins failed to protect women while it sold Walliams’ highly profitable children’s titles.
One young woman said she was ordered to visit the bestselling children’s author alone at his house. She was in her early twenties at the time, while he was in his mid-forties.
A colleague cautioned that he “might like the look of you.”
Staff were aware that he had dated a colleague in her mid-twenties. According to a source, he also requested that one of the most junior female members of the team become his dedicated assistant, despite the demanding nature of the role.
A senior former employee believes some managers at HarperCollins would “certainly have known about his reputation.” She recalled that Walliams invited a young female worker to a meal, but the woman was advised to decline.
A spokesperson for HarperCollins said the company had “terminated its publishing relationship with David Walliams.” The spokesperson 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 been revealed as the celebrity who tried to block publication of an investigation by The Guardian and ITV News, in which multiple women accused him of using his fame to prey on them when they were teenagers. He denies the allegations, saying he has not “broken the law” and is “not a sexual predator.”
It has been alleged that Walliams used his position to pursue women through HarperCollins, leading to a sexual relationship with a junior member of its staff. The former employees’ accounts do not suggest additional allegations of wrongdoing by Walliams, but they shed new light on the culture that surrounded him.
The women, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also expressed wider concern about the exploitation of junior female staff in the children’s publishing industry by influential older men. This is a particular worry on book tours, where young female staff sometimes share taxis and dinner tables with well-known authors before staying in the same hotels.
HarperCollins, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s company News Corp, has sold more than 60 million copies of Walliams’ books worldwide since releasing his debut, The Boy in the Dress, in 2008. His sales, totalling more than £100m, are rivalled this century only by JK Rowling and Julia Donaldson.
HarperCollins launched an internal inquiry into him in 2023 after claims of harassment, but it is understood that no action was taken. The company announced last December that it would not publish any new books by Walliams and has since dropped his existing titles.
The publisher’s investigation prompted young women at the firm to be told to avoid visiting Walliams at his home and to meet him only in pairs, it was reported. Multiple sources have told The i Paper that staff were sharing advice about dealing with potential unwanted attention from him several years earlier.
One former junior team member, Amy, recalled that a colleague informally “warned that he could be creepy with young women” and “liked pretty girls.” There were “rumours about it all around the office,” she said. She was “sent to his house by myself” to deliver or collect books, and said Walliams was “completely decent and professional” with her.
Another former employee, Becca, who had more senior experience in the children’s department, said “rumours” about Walliams’ conduct spread through the company for many years. She said she is “not at all surprised” by the serious allegations that have since come to light.
Asked why concerns were not examined earlier and more seriously, Becca said: “He was a huge, absolutely massive seller for them. It was an enormous part of the business.” Industry data shows HarperCollins still sold nearly 150,000 of his books in the first nine months of this year, bringing in close to £1m.
Walliams’ lawyers have said his advances were made while he was “heartbroken and lonely after his divorce and was hoping to meet someone to spend time with.” Walliams’ former agent said he had “never been informed of any allegations raised against him” by the publisher and was not given an opportunity to answer questions. “David strongly denies that he has behaved inappropriately,” the agent said.
