Andy Carroll breaks silence on ‘traumatic' sexual assault he hid for years

Former England and Liverpool striker Andy Carroll has revealed he was sexually assaulted by a man at his home five years ago, an experience he says he still struggles with today.

Carroll, 37, has spoken publicly about the assault for the first time in his new autobiography, Owning It.

The footballer said only a handful of people knew what had happened and that he decided at the last minute to include it in the book after discussing it with his girlfriend, Lou Teasdale.

“I was sexually assaulted, there I said it,” Carroll wrote.

The incident happened in 2021, when Carroll was in his second spell at Newcastle United.

According to his account, a man he described as a “celebrity mate” of his then-partner came to his home to watch a boxing match and was supposed to stay the night.

Carroll said he already felt uncomfortable around the man and went to bed after having a few drinks.

He later woke up to find the man sexually assaulting him.

Carroll threw him out of the house, but said the man attempted to get back inside. The former England striker then punched him and called the police.

He recalled breaking down afterwards and “sobbing” in the arms of his children's nanny.

The alleged attacker denied the allegations and the case eventually went to trial.

Carroll had to give evidence in court, an experience he described as “humiliating and embarrassing and absolutely horrendous.”

The attacker was found guilty of sexual offences and jailed for three years. He was also placed on the Sex Offender Register and banned from entering the village where Carroll lived.

For Carroll, however, a conviction didn't simply make what happened disappear.

He said he thought about the assault every day afterwards and even struggled to concentrate on football.

“The trauma of what happened to me hasn't gone away,” he wrote.

That was ultimately part of the reason he decided to talk about something he had spent years keeping private.

Carroll said that by acknowledging what happened rather than burying it, he hopes to take back some control over the experience.

And if speaking publicly helps even one other person who has been through something similar, he says it will have been worth it.