‘I never saw that side of Neil’: Tori Amos opens up on her ‘heartbreaking’ reaction to the Neil Gaiman allegations

In early 2024, five women came forward and accused Neil Gaiman of sexual abuse, and since then, the famed author of such works as The Sandman, American Gods, and Good Omens has been embroiled in a controversy that has lost him an adaptation of The Graveyard Book as well as the highly anticipated third season of Good Omens, being deemed essentially “canceled.”

Now, Gaiman’s long-time friend Tori Amos, whose daughter has Gaiman as her godfather, has come forward to discuss these allegations from her own perspective. Gaiman and Amos have been close friends for decades. She gave him a mention in the song “Tear in Your Hand” released in 1992, and they have collaborated numerous times on different projects since then.

A character in Gaiman’s best-selling Stardust novel is created in her image, and she even performed the part in the BBC Radio adaptation. Neil is also brought up in “Carbon,” “Space Dogs,” “Horses,” “Sweet Dreams,” and “Not Dying Today,” and he, in turn, wrote stories for the tour books of Amos’ studio albums Boys for Pele and Scarlet’s Walk. Most significant, perhaps, is the fact that Gaiman is the godfather to Tash, Tori’s daughter, whom he nicknamed Blueberry Girl and wrote a poem for. Suffice it to say, the two are as thick as thieves; birds of a feather, peas in a pod, you name it.

Now, promoting her latest album and finally shaking off the Covid break, Amos recently chatted with The Guardian, where the issue of Gaiman and the allegations against him was also brought up. Amos says that her initial reaction was “shock.”

“And if the allegations are true, that’s not the Neil that I knew, that’s not the friend that I knew, nor a friend that I ever want to know. So in some ways, it’s a heartbreaking grief. I never saw that side of Neil. Neither did my crew. And my crew has seen a lot.”

Does that mean she doesn’t quite believe the allegations from what she knows of Neil? Not quite. It’s clear that talking about this is very difficult for Amos, but she continued to discuss it, even while on the verge of tears.

“My manager was the one who told me, because the girls [Tash and her cousin, Kelsey] found out about it from a paper. Tash said, ‘Kels, we’re not telling Mom’ – they call me ‘T-Bird,’ but she might have said ‘Mom’ here. But she said, ‘We’re not telling Mom right now, we’re going straight to John [Witherspoon], because we don’t know, first of all, the legality. We have to work through this, and it’s the holiday weekend, and Mom has to work through this.”

As for why she hasn’t addressed this until now, Amos says that she never saw or knew anything that made her doubt Neil for a moment.

“I haven’t publicly said anything because: what do I say? I didn’t hire the nannies. I wasn’t there. I’ve never met these people. And I’ve never received a letter – of the thousands of letters I’ve gotten in 33 years – I’ve never received anything that was about Neil, except praise for his work and how much his work meant to people. That’s all I ever knew.”

Amos was the first spokesperson for Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) which is the largest non-profit anti-sexual assault organization in the United States. For decades she has advocated for women’s rights as well as victims of abuse, so all of these developments, whether there’s any validity to them or not — and coming from a dear friend of many years, no less — must have shaken her to her core. You can learn more about the allegations currently leveled against Gaiman by reading this article. Diving Deep Live, the latest album from Tori Amos, is hitting the market today.