Comedian Lucy Beaumont reveals she was whistleblower on David Walliams
Warning: This article contains discussion of allegations of sexual assault which some readers may find distressing.
Comedian Lucy Beaumont has revealed she was a whistleblower who spoke out about David Walliams after allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him.
Walliams, the best-selling author and former Britain's Got Talent judge was today named as the ‘well-known celebrity’ accused of sexually inappropriate behaviour and grooming in an investigation by The Guardian and ITV News after a failed injunction to prevent the reporting of allegations against him.
According to the ITV News and Guardian investigation, there have been a number of allegations of sexual misconduct dating back to 2003 and involving several women, some of whom were teens at the time.
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Walliams, 55, has denied any wrongdoing, saying: “I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law.”
In a new interview on Sky News’ The Cathy Newman Show last night (10 November), fellow comedian Beaumont revealed she had been one of the people who contacted The Guardian about Walliams, as she called for better safeguarding in the TV industry.
She said: “I don’t know Walliams, I haven’t worked with him but, bizarrely, it’s been a really strange day for me because, about three years ago, a young person – and it was their first job on TV – worked on a show he was on and the next show that they worked on was with me.
“They took me aside and said, ‘I need to tell somebody something’ and confided in me.
Beaumont said the young person told her they had to ‘take young girls’ who were ‘definitely’ over 16 to Walliams’ dressing room, adding: “He felt they were vulnerable.”
She added: “At the time, he didn’t think there was a process, a way to let people know within the TV company what was happening and how he felt and I was really worried.”
Beaumont, 43, said she had never worked with Walliams or witnessed any inappropriate behaviour from him but was ‘worried that these girls were young.’
The comic said she reached out to an alleged victim who was ‘in a really bad way’ and was worried about her well-being but said the woman ‘declined my offer of support.’
She said she did not know if the allegations were true but had wanted to help.
The Hull-born star added: “I did as much as I could do privately.
“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 to let The Guardian know.”
She went on to call for better procedures for people working in the industry to raise safeguarding issues.
“People are saying, ‘why tell journalists?’ There’s no HR department in TV. There’s no proper duty of care.
“There’s no social services that you deal with and it’s partly because the industry is very well-managed.
“These things slip through the net because, I think there will be now, but there hasn’t been a process that you can deal with.”
Beaumont - who has appeared on shows including Taskmaster, The Last Leg, and Meet the Richardsons alongside her ex-husband Jon Richardson - said that she felt speaking out may harm her career, but she’d done so anyway.
“Honestly, I don’t think I’ll work in telly again, I honestly don’t.”
David Walliams denies the allegations
Walliams has denied all the allegations made against him.
In a letter shared with the media, he 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. And whilst 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, but I am devastated that some of the women I met 10 to 20 years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me.”
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact The Survivors Trust for free on 08088 010 818, available 10am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-3pm and 6pm-8pm Monday to Thursday, 10am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-3pm on Fridays, 10am-12.30pm on Saturdays and 6pm-8pm on Sundays.
Topics: UK News, Celebrity, David Walliams
Claire Reid
