David Walliams Is Named After High Court Refuses Anonymity Bid

Page Six, citing The Guardian’s account, reported that multiple women have accused the comedian and children’s author of using his status to groom them for sex. Two accusers, now in their 30s, said they first met him at 15. The allegations reportedly span decades, from his BBC sketch-show years to his time on “Britain’s Got Talent.”

Walliams denied wrongdoing in a statement published Tuesday. “Looking back, I realize that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with,” he said, while rejecting the suggestion that he abused a power imbalance or acted as a “sexual predator.” He also said he had not broken the law.

The legal fight itself is part of the story here, because celebrity anonymity orders are never just about privacy once major news organizations are prepared to publish. Page Six reported that Walliams sought an injunction against Independent Television News and Guardian News and Media, and that Mr. Justice Nicklin dismissed the claim on Nov. 3. An interim injunction had temporarily protected his anonymity while his legal team considered whether to appeal.

The case took on a darker dimension because, according to the same report, Walliams’ lawyer Sara Mansoori KC told the court that publication of his name would create a severe suicide risk. That left the court weighing an acute mental-health argument against the public-interest case for identifying a famous figure facing allegations from multiple women. Lawyers for the media organizations argued that the women had also suffered serious harm.

None of that settles the allegations. It does show how much effort, legal and institutional, can go into controlling the moment when a reputation becomes attachable to a report.

There is also the commercial backdrop. HarperCollins cut ties with Walliams and dropped his back catalog after an internal investigation into what it described as “inappropriate behavior” toward young female employees, according to Page Six. The same report said The Guardian linked Walliams to a sexual relationship with a junior member of staff at the publisher. In public-image terms, that is the less glamorous but more durable fallout: before a court name is printed, the business can already be moving.