Andy Carroll has confirmed that Kevin Adams, a dance coach on BBC's Fame Academy in 2002, sexually assaulted him in 2021. The former England, Liverpool, and Newcastle footballer made the revelation in his new autobiography, Owning It: In My Own Words, after Adams's name was made public in court documents.
Carroll confirms abuser's identity
Carroll, 37, had previously described being sexually assaulted by a 'male celebrity' in 2021 without naming him, saying 'only a few' of his loved ones knew about the incident before the book's publication. After learning that Adams's name was public knowledge in court filings, he told The Sun on Sunday: 'Now that Kevin Adams has been named in court documents as my abuser, I can confirm it.'
'Hopefully now I can finally start to put this chapter behind me,' he added. Carroll requested that 'people don't constantly share pictures of [his] abuser alongside [him]'. 'I don't want to keep seeing his face or being reminded of him every time this story is spoken about,' he explained. 'I'm ready to move forward. This had a devastating impact on my life and loved ones.'
Trial and conviction
Carroll gave evidence during Adams's trial, something he found 'humiliating and horrendous'. At the time, Judge Mary Loram condemned Adams's 'lies' after the coach claimed he had been hit for no reason when Carroll awoke mid-attack and knocked him unconscious.
Adams, now 59, was convicted at Chelmsford Crown Court in 2023, where he was jailed for 20 months and placed on the sex offenders register. He was also banned from Carroll's village. The judge told him: 'You spun a literally incredible tale in which you painted yourself as the victim.' She added that she could not find 'a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in [his] case'. Adams has now set his social media accounts to private.
Details from the memoir
Revisiting the assault, which took place at his home, Carroll referred to it in his memoir as something he'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,' he revealed. 'I was sexually assaulted; there I said it. Scary to even think about, and only a few people knew about it before now.'
He added that he and his partner, Lou Teasdale, had spent 'a lot of time discussing whether to mention it' in the book. 'I avoided my publisher for so long that they probably suspected I got cold feet,' he admitted. 'Scary to talk about, but it's made me the person I am today as much as any of the good stuff.' Carroll added: 'And if me talking about it helps just one person, then good, it will have been worth it.'
Carroll said that his attacker 'was always asking [him] and [his] ex to go out with him' and bought him clothes. One night, the man, now known to be Adams, sent him a text asking if he could go over to watch the boxing. Noting that Adams had been in the kitchen 'mixing drinks', Carroll later started feeling 'light-headed', believing he had 'slipped [him] something'. He offered to order Adams a taxi, but he insisted on staying in the spare room. 'I sleep naked, and when I wake up, this guy is under the duvet,' he wrote.
Ordering Adams out of his home, he 'smacked' him, and he 'hit the deck'. 'He regains consciousness just as the police turn up and immediately starts telling the police I hit him for no reason,' Carroll shared. 'As it is, the police arrest him, and I have to go to the station as well.'
Carroll said that the events 'affected every facet' of his life, and he now thinks about it 'every day', making it difficult to focus on 'anything else', even football. 'The trauma of what happened to me hasn't gone away.'
