Lucy Beaumont Feared TV Backlash After Naming Walliams

Beaumont said she decided to make inquiries after someone who had worked on a show with Walliams told her they had been asked to take young girls to the comedian’s dressing room. She said she was particularly concerned about one woman whose well-being appeared to have worsened after the experience. Beaumont tried to contact her and offered to pay legal expenses if she wanted help seeking protection.

Walliams became publicly identifiable after a judge rejected his application for an injunction against The Guardian and ITV seeking to block publication of allegations. His identity was temporarily protected to allow time for an appeal; after the deadline passed without further action, the outlets named him. A joint investigation included accounts from women who alleged he used his celebrity and professional influence to pursue younger women. Two said they first met him when they were 15. One alleged their relationship became physically intimate when she was 17; another described inappropriate messages and unwanted physical contact. Walliams has denied grooming, sexual assault and other allegations.

The fallout has reached his professional relationships. Independent Talent Group said it was “deeply disturbed by the allegations concerning David Walliams” and would no longer represent or work with him. HarperCollins announced in 2025 that it would not publish new books by Walliams, following reports of inappropriate behavior toward female employees, which he strongly denied.

A woman who recalled visiting Walliams’ Britain’s Got Talent dressing room as a teenager questioned why she and three other girls, aged 16 or 17, were allowed inside without adult supervision. She also said his personal assistant sometimes brought refreshments and wondered whether production staff knew about the visits.

Coverage has also revisited Walliams’ past association with Russell Brand. The pair kissed on the first episode of The Russell Brand Show in November 2006, prompting Matt Lucas to joke that they were “the two gayest straight blokes.” Walliams attended Brand’s stag party in 2010, before Brand’s first marriage to Katy Perry. Their former friendship has drawn renewed attention since Brand was convicted of rape and sexual assault and sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison.