A woman has filed civil lawsuits against Neil Gaiman and his ex-wife in the US, accusing the British author of sexually assaulting her.

The lawsuits against Gaiman and Amanda Palmer were filed in Wisconsin, Massachusetts and New York.

The woman alleges the former couple violated laws on federal human trafficking, with complaints of assault, battery and inflicting emotional distress against Gaiman and negligence against Palmer. She is seeking at least $7m (£5.6m) in damages.

Gaiman, 64, has denied allegations of sexual misconduct made by eight women, saying he has “never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever”.

The lawsuits claim the woman was befriended by Palmer when she was 22 and homeless in New Zealand and began working for the couple, which is when the assaults began.

According to the lawsuits, Palmer told the woman there had been previous complaints from more than a dozen different women.

Five women, four of whom were among eight featured in a New York Magazine article in January, made allegations about the writer in a Tortoise Media podcast series published in summer 2024.

Gaiman, whose books Good Omens, American Gods and The Sandman have been adapted for television – has denied all of the allegations made against him, posting on his blog, on 14 January: “I’ve stayed quiet until now, both out of respect for the people who were sharing their stories and out of a desire not to draw even more attention to a lot of misinformation.

“As I read through this latest collection of accounts, there are moments I half-recognise and moments I don’t, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen.”

He acknowledged that he was “careless with people’s hearts and feelings” and could have “done so much better”, but said he does not “accept there was any abuse”.