Andy Carroll reveals sexual assault prior to West Brom move in new autobiography

Former Albion striker Andy Carroll has revealed he was sexually assaulted by a ‘celebrity’ in 2021, prior to his move to The Hawthorns.

The ex-England international confirmed he was subject of the attack while playing for Newcastle United in his autobiography ‘Owning It’.

Carroll, now 37, admitted he ‘cannot forget’ the assault and feeling "humiliating and embarrassing and absolutely horrendous" when testifying in court.

The male attacker denied the charge but was found guilty following a trial. He was sentenced to three years in prison, placed on the National Sex Offender Register and banned from entering the village where Carroll lived.

Carroll revealed he made a last-minute decision to include the attack in his new book having previously debated its inclusion with partner Lou Teasdale. The striker, who now plays for Dagenham & Redbridge where he is also a co-owner, said he hopes speaking about the incident will help other victims.

He wrote: "Other things I’d quite like to forget but can't... Something happened to me a few years ago that was so traumatic I only decided to include it in this book at the very last minute.

"I was sexually assaulted, there I said it. Scary to even think about and only a few people knew about it before now.

"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 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 explained the attack happened a day after he played for Newcastle in 2021. He said a “celebrity mate” of his former partner invited himself to his house to watch a boxing match.

Carroll wrote how there was “something odd” about the assailant. Having felt uncomfortable he decided to go to bed after feeling ‘light-headed after a few drinks’.

The footballer recalled being awoken by the man attempting to give him oral sex under his bedsheet.

Carroll tried to throw the attacker out of his house before he "smack(ed) him as hard as I can" to knock the man unconscious when he tried to return to the house. Carroll then called the police while "sobbing".

"What happened to me affected every facet of my life," he added. "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."

Carroll joined Albion as a free transfer on a short-term contract in January 2022 and scored three goals in 15 outings for the Championship side.

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