Andy Carroll says well-known footballers have contacted him to share their own sexual assault experiences

Andy Carroll has disclosed that well-known footballers have privately contacted him to share that they too are survivors of sexual assault, following his decision to go public about his own attack in his recently published autobiography.

Carroll, 37, revealed in Owning It that celebrity dance coach Kevin Adams assaulted him while he slept in his own home in 2021. Adams was subsequently convicted and spent 20 months in jail for the incident. Speaking on Piers Morgan’s Football Uncensored on Monday, Carroll said he initially ‘freaked out’ and ‘panicked’ when Adams’s identity became public knowledge.

But the response to his disclosure has been overwhelming. “There’s actually people that I know really well and have come to me and went ‘a similar thing has happened to me’,” Carroll said. “People in football as well. Well-known footballers and I’ve had a phone call of them, saying, ‘thanks’. And for me, putting it in the book, it was the right thing. I must’ve had hundreds and hundreds of messages.”

Carroll, who currently plays for Dagenham and Redbridge, said the support from team-mates and club staff had been ‘fantastic’ since he went public. “I’ve been beating myself up about it. And soon as I’ve said it, the support I’ve received has been massive,” he added.

The assault took place during Carroll’s second spell at boyhood club Newcastle. He wrote in the book that it ‘affected every facet of his life’ and described the court process as ‘humiliating and horrendous’. He made the final decision to include the chapter only after lengthy conversations with his partner, Lou Teasdale.

“I avoided my publisher for so long that they probably suspected I got cold feet,” Carroll said. “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.”