Andy Carroll Reveals He Was Sexually Assaulted in 2021

Former England footballer Andy Carroll has revealed that he was sexually assaulted in his home in 2021.

The 37-year-old shared this in his new autobiography Owning It, as reported by BBC Sport on Thursday.

Carroll, who would have stayed anonymous as a victim of sexual assault, decided to make the incident public.

The attack happened during his time at Newcastle United for the second time.

A friend of his partner came over to watch a boxing match and planned to sleep over.

Carroll said the assault took place while he was asleep.

He kicked the man out of his house and knocked him out when the man tried to come back inside.

After that, he called the police and was left crying in the arms of his children’s nanny.

The attacker was later found guilty of sexual offences, given a three-year prison sentence, and put on the sex offenders’ register.

Carroll testified in court and described the process as “humiliating and embarrassing and absolutely horrendous.”

Carroll is now a player and co-owner at Dagenham & Redbridge, a non-league team. He said he decided to include this part of his life in his book “at the very last minute” after talking with his girlfriend Lou Teasdale.

In the book, he 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 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.”

He also said: “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.”

Carroll earned nine caps for England and played in the Premier League for Liverpool and West Ham United.