Years after his spell in French football, Andy Carroll has disclosed the lasting impact of a sexual assault in his autobiography, saying the trauma remains part of his daily life.
The Ligue 1 news
Carroll, 37, has written publicly about the assault for the first time in his book, Owning It. The former Newcastle United and Liverpool striker, who played for Amiens in Ligue 2 during the 2023-24 campaign and Bordeaux in France’s fourth tier in 2024-25, said he only decided to include the account at the final stage of writing.
“I was sexually assaulted. There, I have said it,” Carroll wrote. “Even thinking about it scares me, and only a few people knew until now.”
The incident took place in 2021 after Carroll returned home from a Newcastle match in southern England. He said his former partner, reality television personality Billi Mucklow, had persuaded him to invite a friend of hers to their home, someone Carroll said he had always considered “strange”.
After drinking a few drinks, Carroll said he became dizzy and went to bed. He believes he may have been drugged. He later woke suddenly and said he found the man beside him under the covers, attempting to perform a sexual act on him.
Carroll said he struck the man and called the police before seeking refuge with his children’s nanny. The man denied the accusation but was later sentenced to three years in prison.
The former England international, who won nine caps and scored twice for his country, said he had struggled over whether to make the experience public. Conversations with his publisher and his current partner, Lou Teasdale, 42, eventually persuaded him to include it.
“Lou and I spent a lot of time wondering whether we should discuss it in the book,” Carroll said. “It is frightening to talk about, but it has helped make me who I am, just as much as the good times. If speaking about it helps even one person, it will have been worthwhile.”
He added that keeping the assault private for years had made him reluctant to reveal it, but that confronting it could allow him to regain control. “By owning what happened to me rather than trying to bury it, perhaps I can have some control over it instead of it controlling me.”
Carroll’s current role
Carroll is now a player, coach and co-owner of Dagenham & Redbridge, who compete in the sixth tier of English football. He said the effect of the assault has not faded: “The trauma of what happened to me has not gone away. I still live with it every day.”
