Former Premier League footballer Andy Carroll has confirmed that he was sexually assaulted by dance coach Kevin Adams, who appeared on the BBC talent show Fame Academy.
Adams, now 59, was convicted at Chelmsford Crown Court and received a 20-month prison sentence in 2023.
He worked as a coach on BBC1’s Fame Academy in 2002 and later appeared on Strictly It Takes Two in 2021.
Carroll, 37, who previously played for Newcastle United and Liverpool, identified the “celebrity mate” who attacked him after learning that Adams’s name had been included in publicly available court documents.
Speaking to The Sun on Sunday, Carroll said: “Now that Kevin Adams has been named in court documents as my abuser, I can confirm it.
“Hopefully, I can finally begin to put this chapter of my life behind me.”
“It had a devastating effect on my life and on the people closest to me.”
Carroll now plays for National League South side Dagenham & Redbridge, where he is also assistant manager. In his new book, Owning It, he described the “traumatic” incident and said he only decided to write about it at the “last minute” after extensive conversations with his publisher.
Former Premier League star Andy Carroll has confirmed that Kevin Adams, a dance coach on BBC show Fame Academy, sexually assaulted him
Adams was sentenced to 20 months in prison in 2023 after being convicted of sexually assaulting Andy Carroll
The footballer said he had woken after drinking “a few” alcoholic beverages to find his “celebrity mate” attempting to perform a sex act on him.
In the book, released last month, Carroll wrote: “There are other things I would rather forget but cannot. Something happened to me several years ago that was so traumatic I decided only at the very last moment to include it in this book.”
“I was sexually assaulted. There, I have said it. Even thinking about it is frightening, and until now only a small number of people knew.”
Carroll said the assault took place after a Newcastle United match, when Adams invited himself to Carroll’s home to watch a boxing bout.
Reflecting on their relationship, Carroll wrote: “He was always asking me and my ex-partner to go out with him, and he even bought me clothes. He was divorced and had children, but I could not shake the feeling that he was interested in me as more than a friend.
“Whenever I saw him at parties, he was always around young boys.”
He continued: “I was playing somewhere in the south and, on my journey home, this man messaged to ask what I was doing.
“When he followed up by asking whether he could come over to watch the boxing, my partner told me to stop putting him off.”
“He took over the kitchen and began mixing drinks. I started to feel light-headed and wondered whether he had put something in one of them. ‘Right, it’s time for bed,’ I told him. ‘I’ll get you a taxi.’”
“‘No,’ he replied. ‘I’ll sleep in the spare room.’”
He then claims he awoke to find Adams sexually assaulting him.
The striker, 37, shared in his new book, Owning It, that he experienced the ‘traumatic’ assault several years ago
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?
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‘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.
Our News Outlet 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
