Former England star Andy Carroll reveals he was victim of a sexual assault

Former England footballer Andy Carroll has revealed he was sexually assaulted by a male celebrity in 2021. His bravery in writing about what happened has been praised by campaign groups, ITV News Correspondent Geraint Vincent reports

Former England forward Andy Carroll has revealed in his new autobiography that he was sexually assaulted by a man in 2021.

The 37-year-old, who played for Newcastle and Liverpool, included the details in his new book, titled ‘Owning it’, and said that if “talking about it helps just one person”, then it “will have been worth it”.

As a victim of sexual assault, Carroll was automatically granted anonymity under UK law, before deciding himself to share his story.

Carroll revealed the incident took place at his home during a second spell at Newcastle. The offender – a friend of his former partner, who was staying away at the time – was later jailed for three years, with Carroll having testified in court.

Former Liverpool and West Ham striker Carroll, who is now a player/co-owner of National League South club Dagenham & Redbridge, said the incident happened when he was sleeping.

He then threw the man out of the house, and knocked him unconscious when he attempted to get back inside.

“I was sexually assaulted, there I said it. Scary to even think about and only a few people knew about it before now,” wrote Carroll, who had decided to include the incident in his book “at the very last minute” after discussing it with his girlfriend, Lou Teasdale.

“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 said testifying in court was “humiliating and embarrassing and absolutely horrendous”.

“What happened to me affected every facet of my life,” he said. “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.”