For the first time, Andy Carroll has opened up honestly about the worst moment of his life, revealing that he suffered a sexual assault in 2021. The former Liverpool and Newcastle striker has chosen to tell everything in the pages of his new book, Owning It, including the traumatic episode that occurred a few years ago in his home: until the last moment he had been undecided whether to include the truth about what had happened to him, but decided to speak out to help other victims of violence.
Today the Englishman is 37 years old and plays for Dagenham & Redbridge, a team in the National League South, where he is also one of the owners. In his autobiography he has retraced his entire career, but he also wanted to talk about the violence he suffered: "Something happened to me a few years ago that was so traumatic that I decided to include it in this book only at the last minute. I was a victim of sexual violence, I said it. It's scary to even think about it and, until now, only a few people knew about it."
Carroll's story
It is a traumatic chapter in his life that still haunts him, even after many years. He thought long and hard before speaking out publicly, but decided to come forward to help others who, like him, have been victims of sexual violence. Carroll said the events took place in 2021, during his final year at Newcastle. After a match, a “famous friend” of his ex-partner, whose name he did not want to make public, came to his house: the man had invited himself to his house to watch a boxing match, which left the footballer stunned. Carroll had realized that something was wrong: “He was always asking me and my ex-partner to go out with him and even buying me clothes. He started making drinks in the kitchen. I felt dizzy and I think he threw something at me too much.”
Englishman reveals he was sexually assaulted by a "famous friend"
The attacker had offered to call a taxi to leave, but his friend preferred to sleep in the guest room. At that moment, the unthinkable happened: Carroll says he was woken up by the man trying to perform oral sex on him under the sheets, against his will. He remembers everything clearly: “I sleep naked and when I wake up, there’s this guy under the covers trying to perform oral sex on me. I slapped him as hard as I could and he fell to the ground. He came to his senses just as the police were arriving and immediately started telling the officers that I had hit him for no reason.”
Punishment of the aggressor
After the violence suffered, Carroll's legal battle began: "The case dragged on for two years. No one, except my partner and her family, knew and they offered me no support". A dramatic situation that ended with the complaint against the man and a trial, which the footballer describes as "humiliating, shameful and absolutely terrible". The aggressor, who remains anonymous throughout the story, was found guilty of sexual offences and sentenced to three years in prison, but the decision does not erase the trauma of the footballer, who has been deeply affected by the violence suffered.
