During a 2009 appearance on Alan Carr’s Chatty Man, David Walliams joked that singer Natalie Imbruglia had turned down the idea of marrying him and supposedly branded him a “vile sexual predator”.
The striking remark came as Carr questioned Walliams about reports surrounding his active dating life on the Channel 4 programme, which aired on July 5, 2009.
Walliams, now 55, was discussing his admiration for Australian singer Imbruglia, 51, after Carr noticed the pair smiling together in a photograph taken at a celebrity event.
Carr asked the comedian: “Natalie Imbruglia, she was with us, why don’t you marry her and make an honest woman of her? She was adorable, you’d make such a lovely couple.”
Walliams replied: “Well, it’s very kind of you to say that, but she, erm, isn’t really into marrying me.”
He then added: “And the phrase I think she used is: ‘You’re a vile sexual predator’ — something like that!”
Asked about his relationship with Natalie Imbruglia, David Walliams joked: “She, erm, isn’t really into marrying me. And the phrase I think she used is: ‘You’re a vile sexual predator’ — something like that!”
The comedian made the remarks during his 2009 appearance on Alan Carr’s Channel 4 chat show, Chatty Man
Walliams met the Australian singer in 2009 and later said he had a “huge crush” on her, although she regarded him as a friend. They are pictured together at Sir Elton John’s 60th birthday party in East London in March 2007
Walliams laughed before clarifying: “No, we’re just really good friends. It’s really important to have some good female friends, but she’s lovely. I mean, I’d marry her if she wanted to, but she doesn’t want to.”
The resurfaced exchange comes after Walliams was identified this week as the celebrity who sought a court injunction to prevent reports about sexual misconduct allegations. He told the High Court that he would take his own life if his identity became public.
The Little Britain star and former Britain’s Got Talent judge has been accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl and targeting several teenagers.
He has also been accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with an intern at publisher HarperCollins and pursuing another employee before the company dropped him over alleged “inappropriate behaviour towards young women”.
Walliams has acknowledged a consensual sexual relationship with the intern, but has firmly denied allegations of grooming, sexual assault and misusing his public profile.
During the 2009 Chatty Man interview, Carr also questioned Walliams about the comedian’s much-discussed romantic history.
The children’s author has also been accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a HarperCollins intern and pursuing another employee before being dropped last year over alleged “inappropriate behaviour towards young women”
Speaking about Imbruglia, pictured with Walliams in London in February 2006, he said: “I mean, I’d marry her if she wanted to, but she doesn’t want to”
Carr asked: “You always seem to be in the paper with different women. How do you pick them up?”
Walliams answered: “I just meet them out. I just like spending time with them, I like to take them out for dinner, go shopping, that kind of thing.”
Carr continued with a joke: “Because you’re a bit like an illegal taxi driver. You lure them into a false sense of security and then you pounce.”
Walliams smiled and responded: “Well, a lot of these ladies are just friends of mine and, as you can see that night, it was just great. We’re just really good friends.”
Carr teased him again, declaring: “You were like a social butterfly!”
Walliams then turned the joke back on Carr, referring to the host’s appearance at the same celebrity gathering: “Well, you were as well. You were very, very popular.”
He added: “People thought you’d maybe won a competition to be there. They thought, ‘Let’s have a little picture with him. Ah, how did you get to be here — are you enjoying it?!’”
Carr went on to ask Walliams to react to names linked to him romantically, saying: “Now, I know you’re too gentlemanly to talk about what you do with your lady friends, but can you just cough to confirm if anything has happened with the following, because you’ve all been linked with these people, yes? Geri Halliwell?”
Walliams replied: “Someone else coughed.”
Carr then asked: “Lisa Snowdon?”
Walliams said: “What have I got to do, cough if yes?” before coughing.
Carr followed with: “Abi Titmuss?”
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Walliams: *coughs*
Carr: “Kate Moss?”
Walliams: *quietly coughs*
Carr: “Jean-Claude Van Damme?”
Walliams: *loudly coughs*
Carr responded: “Oh, you dirty b******!”
Later in the programme, Walliams and Carr took part in a comic dressing-up segment, removing their suits to reveal women’s lingerie underneath.
Carr introduced the clothes by saying: “Now my aunt died recently and I found a bunch of her clothes. I knew you were coming round and I thought you might like to have a finger through them and see if there’s anything you like.”
Walliams replied: “I’d love to have a finger…”
The two men then put on the garments, exposing stockings and feminine underwear, including a black lace camisole.
As the interview drew to a close, Walliams asked Carr: “Have you finished humiliating me yet?”
After Carr thanked him for appearing, Walliams asked: “Dawn French kissed you?”
When Carr confirmed that she had, Walliams followed up: “Did she put her tongue in?”
Before Carr could complete his answer — “Half of it” — Walliams leaned in and kissed him.
Walliams revisited his feelings for Imbruglia in 2024, telling Australia’s Fitzy and Wippa radio show that he had developed a “huge crush” on the singer when they first met, although she had “friend-zoned” him.
“She’s very much friend-zoned me,” Walliams said of their relationship.
“We didn’t go on any dates. We just became very good friends and we hung out together.”
He added: “But you know, it’s hard not to kind of fall for her like a ton of bricks because she is amazing.”
Walliams also suggested that Imbruglia could have found a more suitable partner.
“Look at me. Let’s be honest, she could do a lot better,” he said.
The pair were photographed together at various social events between 2009 and 2021.
“I think I’m seen as the sort of gay best friend by a lot of people,” Walliams said when describing their friendship.
HarperCollins opened an investigation into Walliams in late 2023, with the inquiry concluding in 2024.
The publisher dropped him in December 2025, and in September this year said it would no longer publish his books.
Walliams denies sexually harassing anyone at HarperCollins or behaving inappropriately in the workplace.
In response to an investigation by ITV News and The Guardian, HarperCollins said: “HarperCollins UK previously terminated its publishing relationship with David Walliams.”
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 also been accused of abusing his position on Little Britain and Britain’s Got Talent, as well as engaging in “inappropriate and exploitative sexual activities” involving “a large number” of young women and girls.
He denies all wrongdoing.