Ex-Premier League star Andy Carroll has confirmed he was sexually assaulted by a dance coach on BBC show Fame Academy.
Kevin Adams, now 59, was convicted at Chelmsford Crown Court and sentenced to 20 months in prison in 2023.
He appeared as a coach on the BBC1 talent show in 2002, as well as Strictly It Takes Two in 2021.
The ex-Newcastle and Liverpool striker, 37, revealed the name of the ‘celebrity mate’ who attacked him after being made aware that Adams’ name appears in publicly-available court documents.
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.
‘This had a devastating impact on my life and loved ones.’
Carroll, who now plays for National League South club Dagenham & Redbridge and serves as assistant manager, shared in his new book, Owning It, that he experienced the ‘traumatic’ assault several years ago, but only decided ‘at the last minute’ to detail it following lengthy discussions with his publisher.
Ex-Premier League star Andy Carroll has confirmed he was sexually assaulted by Kevin Adams, a dance coach on BBC show Fame Academy
The striker, 37, shared in his new book, Owning It, that he experienced the ‘traumatic’ assault several years ago
Andy said the sexual assault had ‘a devastating impact on my life and loved ones’
The footballer revealed he woke up after having a ‘few drinks’ to find his ‘celebrity mate’ attempting to give him oral sex.
He wrote in his new book, which was released last month: ‘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.’
Carroll explained he was assaulted the evening after a Newcastle United game when Adams invited himself round to watch a boxing match.
Describing their relationship, he wrote: ‘He was always asking me and my ex to go out with him and even buys me clothes. He is divorced with kids but I can’t shift the feeling he likes me more than a platonic way.
‘Whenever I bump into him at parties he is always with young boys.’
He continued: ‘I was playing down south somewhere and on my way home this guy texts to ask what I am up to.
‘When he texts again to ask if he can come round to watch the boxing with me, my partner tells me to stop pieing him off [putting him off].
‘He takes over the kitchen, mixing drinks. I start to feel lightheaded and think has he slipped me something. ‘Right, time for bed’, I say to him, ‘I’ll order you a taxi’.
”Oh no,’ he says, ‘I’ll stay in the spare room’.
He then claims he awoke to find Adams sexually assaulting him.
Adams was sentenced to 20 months in prison in 2023 for sexually assaulting Andy Carroll
Adams appeared as a coach on the BBC’s Fame Academy in 2002, as well as Strictly It Takes Two in 2021
‘I sleep naked and when I wake up this guy is under the duvet trying to give me a blowjob.’
Carroll went on to ‘smack’ him as he ordered him out the house. ‘I smack him as hard as I can and he hits the deck,’ he writes.
‘I grab hold of his feet and drag him out on the driveway. I go back inside, lock the door and call the police and the nanny. And then it suddenly occurs to me, what if I killed him?
‘He regains consciousness just as the police turn up and immediately starts telling the police I hit him for no reason. As it is the police arrest him and I have to go to the station as well.’
Adams was subsequently found guilty of sexual offences and imprisoned.
He was also placed on the Sex Offender Register and banned from entering the village where Carroll lived.
Adams had tried to argue in his defence that he had been assaulted by Carroll, but the judge told him: ‘You spun a literally incredible tale in which you painted yourself as the victim. You’ve actually started to believe your own lies.’
Before he was sentenced, Adams had run a children’s dance school, the Kevin Adams Academy, in Harlow, Essex. Records show that the company ceased operations in 2022.
Carroll took to his Instagram stories last week and revealed he has been inundated with messages of support from male sex assault victims after sharing his harrowing ordeal.
He wrote: ‘It’s been incredibly hard for me to speak about what happened. I’m still navigating what I feel comfortable sharing publicly.
‘Since speaking out, so many men have messaged me about their own experiences.
‘That has been incredibly powerful and has reminded me just how important it is that men feel able to talk when they’re ready.
‘But speaking out has to happen on our own terms. We should be able to decide how much we share, when we share it and whether or not we name the person responsible.
‘Naming a perpetrator can have consequences for the victim too, emotionally and personally. For me, taking back control means being able to tell my story in the way that feels right for me, without feeling pressured to give people more than I’m ready to give.’
Carroll described the court case as ‘humiliating and embarrassing and absolutely horrendous’, while the attacker denied the allegations.
Carroll revealed on Instagram he has been inundated with messages of support from male sex assault victims
After speaking with girlfriend Lou Teasdale (pictured) he decided to open up about being assaulted because it would be ‘worth it’ if it helped others
‘The case dragged on for two years. Nobody else knew about it other than my partner and her family.
‘The police called me to say he had been found guilty and I started uncontrollably crying.’
He added: ‘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…The trauma of what happened to me hasn’t gone away.’
After speaking with girlfriend Lou Teasdale, 42, he decided opening up about being assaulted would be ‘worth it’ if it helped others.
‘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.’
The ex-Premier League footballer recently pleaded not guilty to breaching a non-molestation order after being accused of repeatedly calling his reality TV star ex-wife Billi Mucklow.
Carroll has formally entered a plea of not guilty to the charge and is due to stand trial next January.
The footballer and The Only Way Is Essex star Billi, 38, were together for 11 years but confirmed their split in September 2024 after secretly separating earlier in the year.
They got engaged in 2014 before marrying in 2022 and share three children. Mucklow also cares for Carroll’s two other children from a previous relationship.
Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Andy Carroll and Kevin Adams for comment.
- If you have been affected by this story, you can contact Rape Crisis on 0808 500 2222 or visit their website
