Andy Carroll Thanks Public for Support After Revealing Sexual Assault

Former England striker Andy Carroll has thanked the public for their support after he spoke openly about being sexually assaulted by a man.

The 36-year-old said the response since going public has been huge. Speaking on the Football Uncensored podcast, he said: “I’ve been beating myself up about it, and as soon as I’ve said it the support that I’ve received has been massive.”

The assault happened in 2021 at his home, during his second spell at Newcastle United. The man was a friend of Carroll’s then partner, who was away at the time. 

He was jailed for 20 months in 2023 after being convicted of sexual offences. Carroll named him as television dance coach Kevin Adams in an interview with the Sun. Adams appeared on the BBC series Fame Academy in 2002 and has not commented publicly since being named.

Carroll said he wishes he had spoken up sooner. “I think that’s the main thing really for me, that if I said that five years ago when it happened, maybe I would have felt a lot better now and then got over it,” he said.

He says he is in a better place now. “I’m happy with who I am, I’m happy with how I’ve dealt with it, and I’ve got the support around me with my partner, my family and friends, and now the public,” he said.

Carroll, who also played for Liverpool and West Ham, is now a player and co-owner of Dagenham, a National League South side. He wrote about the assault in his autobiography, “Owning It”. 

He said it happened while he was asleep. He then threw the man out of his home and knocked him unconscious when the man tried to get back in.

Giving evidence in court was hard for him. Carroll called it “humiliating and embarrassing and absolutely horrendous”.

He said the trauma stayed with him for a long time. “It was eating me alive inside for so long,” Carroll said. “There’s certain things you can’t get over, and I’ll never, ever get over that.”

But he says the support he has received has made a difference. “But now I know that people can see who I was then, in that time, and what I’ve been through and they help me and support me,” he said.