Andy Carroll has revealed he was sexually assaulted by a man in 2021. The former England striker, 37, made the details public in his autobiography, which was released on Thursday, and says the perpetrator has been jailed for three years.
The incident took place at Carroll’s home during his second spell with his hometown club Newcastle. A friend of his former partner, who was away at the time, had come to the house to watch a boxing match and was set to stay over.
In his account, the assault occurred while Carroll was sleeping. He threw the man out of the house and then knocked him unconscious as he tried to return. Carroll called the police and was “sobbing” in the arms of his children’s nanny.
The unnamed attacker was found guilty of sexual offences and placed on the sex offender register. Carroll testified in court, a process he describes as “humiliating and embarrassing and absolutely horrendous”.
Writing in the book, Carroll said: “I was sexually assaulted, there I said it. Scary to even think about and only a few people knew about it before now.”
He explained that he had weighed up whether to include the episode at all. “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,” he wrote, referring to his girlfriend Lou Teasdale. He added that he decided to include it “at the very last minute”, and that “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, who won nine England caps, said the impact of what happened has been lasting. “What happened to me affected every facet of my life. I’d think about it every day, making it difficult to focus on anything else, including football,” he said. “The trauma of what happened to me hasn’t gone away.”
Carroll also played in the Premier League for Liverpool and West Ham, and has represented Reading, West Brom and the French sides Amiens and Bordeaux. He is now a player and co-owner of non-league club Dagenham & Redbridge, having joined in July 2025, and has made six appearances in the National League South this season.