Lucy Beaumont has disclosed that she was among the whistleblowers who provided information about David Walliams after allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct involving the comedian emerged on Tuesday.
The former Little Britain star has been identified as the celebrity who sought a court order to prevent publication of claims that he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl and targeted several teenage girls while allegedly using his status to exploit them.
A three-year joint investigation by ITV News and The Guardian, published on Tuesday, detailed multiple allegations dating back to 2003. Some of the alleged victims were as young as 15. Walliams denies all the claims.
Beaumont, who appeared in the first series of Celebrity Traitors last year, said she contacted The Guardian after becoming “really worried” that one alleged victim might “take her own life”.
She said she was working on a television programme when a young person told her about having worked on a show with Walliams. According to Beaumont, the individual’s role involved taking “young girls” to the comedian’s dressing room, although they believed the girls were over 16.
Speaking to Sky News, Beaumont said: “I did as much as I could privately, and whenever I’ve heard a rumour about anyone, I’ve done everything I can.
“There’s only so much you can do. I’m not the police. Nothing seems to be illegal, but I was really worried, and I was one of the whistleblowers. I was one of the people who let The Guardian know.”
Lucy Beaumont said she was among the whistleblowers who shared information during the investigation into David Walliams, amid concerns that an alleged victim might “take her own life”
A three-year joint investigation by ITV News and The Guardian reported allegations dating back to 2003. Walliams denies all the claims
Beaumont also criticised the television industry’s systems for protecting people, saying: “There’s no HR department in TV. There’s no proper duty of care, and there are no social services that you deal with. It’s partly because the industry is very well managed.
“These are very rare things to happen. It’s full of very polite, hardworking people under pressure. Everyone you work with is lovely, and these things slip through the net because there hasn’t been a process to deal with them.
“People have agents, but the agents work for the talent. People move around a lot in their positions. Someone might be an executive one week and then be working with someone else the next. It does need looking at.”
Beaumont stressed that she has never worked with Walliams and did not personally witness any of the alleged incidents.
“No, I haven’t. I’ve never worked with him. I haven’t witnessed anything, and that’s the point, isn’t it?” she said. “Obviously, if there are false allegations against someone, you don’t want to be party to that.
“I was worried that these girls were young. I then tried to contact some of them to check on them and ask whether they were all right.
“I used to work in a school, and if a pupil came to tell me something they had witnessed, you have a duty of care to act. I think that has probably never left me.”
Beaumont said she contacted one of the alleged victims and offered to help with legal costs. The woman declined, telling Beaumont that she had been silenced.
“I contacted one of the young girls, and she was in a really bad way. I was very worried about her. I was worried she might take her own life because of what had happened,” Beaumont said, adding that the woman had posted material online and that there was evidence she had been in a dressing room.
“I offered to pay legal fees to try to get her some protection. I’m not saying necessarily that what she said was true, but I wanted to help her because she was completely out of her depth in that world, and I believe she had signed an NDA.
“That is the issue with some of these NDAs. It wasn’t simply that she couldn’t speak to the media; she couldn’t speak to family or friends or a therapist. I’m nearly crying telling you this.”
Beaumont said she had decided to speak publicly despite fearing the potential impact on her career.
“The reason I’m speaking out, when everybody I know knows about this and I don’t hear anybody talking about it, is that I honestly don’t think I’ll work in television again,” she said.
“High-profile people don’t say anything because they lose work. You’re seen as someone who might cause trouble, and it needs to be said that there has to be some intervention.”
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Beaumont confirmed that the woman ultimately rejected her offer of support.
“She wouldn’t talk to me much. She declined my offer of support and explained that she had been silenced,” Beaumont said.
“She was also worried about other people. She feared that if she told someone, there would be a legal burden on them too.”
Walliams denies all the allegations.
In a statement to The Guardian and ITV News, the comedian said: “Looking back, I realise that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with. I realise I did not always take people’s feelings properly into account. That is something I regret.
“While 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.
“I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law. I am devastated that some of the women I met 10 to 20 years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me.”
Beaumont said she had never worked with Walliams and had not personally witnessed any of the alleged incidents
Last month, a High Court judge dismissed Walliams’ attempt to block publication of the allegations but gave him permission to appeal and temporarily kept his identity secret.
The comedian and writer subsequently missed a 4.30pm deadline on Monday to take the case to the Court of Appeal. His identity could therefore be reported.
Walliams denies wrongdoing and told the High Court that he would kill himself if his identity were disclosed. On Tuesday afternoon, Downing Street described allegations of sexual misconduct made by multiple women as “deeply troubling”.
One accuser, identified by ITV News and The Guardian as Jade, alleges that Walliams sexually assaulted her when she was 15 after contacting her online.
Jade said they met in London’s Soho before Walliams drove her to his home in an Aston Martin. She alleges that he assaulted her at Supernova Heights, the mansion once owned by Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher.
“He asked me to come over and gave me a hug. That’s when he kissed me,” Jade alleged of Walliams, who was 36 at the time.
“He lifted my top and sucked on my breast, then tried to put my hand down his trousers. That’s when I pulled away and said, ‘No.’ He had an erection at the time,” she said.
“I wasn’t ready for sex. I didn’t want to do that, with him or anyone. I didn’t want to be touched in that way at all. I was only 15.”
Jade said she had told Walliams that she had previously been sexually abused by someone else as a child. She claims he responded: “Sorry to hear that.”
She said she regarded the alleged incident as “sexual assault” and “grooming”, adding: “It’s completely wrong in every way.”
Another woman, identified only as Alex, alleges that Walliams began contacting her when she was 15 and preparing for her mock GCSE exams. She said they first met at a Little Britain fan event, where Walliams was dressed as his character Lou.
Their meeting was filmed, and Alex said they began a sexual relationship about two years later, when she was 17.
Asked how she now felt about Walliams, she said: “I want to vomit. I hate him. My body reacts when I think about it. It’s like a trauma response. I think I was groomed. One hundred per cent.”
Walliams launched his High Court bid to prevent the media from reporting the allegations, triggering intense online speculation about the identity of the unnamed celebrity at the centre of the case.