Former Newcastle and Liverpool striker Andy Carroll says he was sexually assaulted by a male in 2021.
The 37-year-old, who was entitled to anonymity as a victim of sexual assault, chose to disclose his ordeal through an autobiography published under the title “Owning it”.
The ordeal happened when he was still playing for his hometown club Newcastle United in the second stint, according to BBC Sport.
Carroll, who is currently a player/co-owner of non-league team Dagenham & Redbridge, explains that he made the decision to talk about it in his book “at the very last minute” after discussing the issue with his girlfriend Lou Teasdale.
One of his friend’s former partners, who was away from home at the time, was supposed to spend a night at his place after watching a boxing game.
Carroll reveals that he was attacked while asleep and proceeded to throw the attacker out of the house and knock him out cold when he came back to attack him again.
Carroll, who also featured in the English Premier League with Liverpool and West Ham United, contacted the authorities and was “sobbing in the arms of my nanny.”
The unnamed attacker was found guilty of sexual offences and placed on the sex offender register. Carroll testified in court, a process he says was “humiliating and embarrassing and absolutely horrendous”.
Carroll wrote: “I was sexually assaulted, there I said it. Scary to even think about and only a few people knew about it before now.
“Me and Lou spent a lot of time discussing whether to mention it in this book or not. I avoided my publisher for so long that they probably suspected I got cold feet.
“Scary to talk about but it’s made [me] the person I am today as much as any of the good stuff. And if me talking about it helps just one person then good, it will have been worth it.”
Carroll, who won nine England caps, added: “What happened to me affected every facet of my life. I’d think about it every day, making it difficult to focus on anything else, including football… The trauma of what happened to me hasn’t gone away.”
