England star Dele Alli reveals he was ‘sexually abused when he was six by friend of his mum’
DELE Alli has revealed he was sexually abused by a friend of his mum as a child.
The England international made the shock revelation in a bombshell interview after returning to Everton in April.
During an appearance on The Overlap with Gary Neville, he said: “When I was six I was molested by mum’s friend… because my mum was an alcoholic.
“That happened at six.”
The Everton star became very emotional and was seen wiping back tears as he opened up about his trauma.
He continued: “And then I was sent to Africa to learn discipline and then I was sent back.
“At seven I started smoking and then at eight I started selling drugs.
“An older person told me they wouldn’t stop a kid on a bike so I’d ride around with my football and underneath I’d have drugs.
“At 11 I was hung off a bridge… by a guy from the next estate. A man.
“By 12 I was adopted but from then it was like I was adopted by an amazing family.
“I couldn’t have asked for better people to do what they done for me.
“If God created people it was them – they were amazing and have helped me a lot.
“When I was living with them it was hard for me to open up to them because I felt like it was easy for them to get rid of me.”
It comes as Alli, 27, found himself on a downward spiral after returning to England from Turkey, excessively drinking and consuming sleeping pills.
And in a desperate bid to get himself back on the straight and narrow, he checked himself into a rehab facility.
And he admits he contemplated hanging up his boots three years ago at the age of 24.
The former Tottenham man said: “One morning I woke up and I had to go training.
“I remember staring in the mirror and I was asking if I could retire now. At 24. Doing the thing I love.
“For me that was heartbreaking.”
He added: ‘It’s always been me against myself in everything.
“I was winning the fight, showing I was happy. But inside, I was losing the battle.”
How you can get help
Whenever it happened to you, it’s never too late to get support.
If you’ve ever experienced sexual violence or sexual abuse, you can get confidential support from specialists who will listen to you, believe you and understand how hard it is to talk about.
As a victim, you’re entitled to support whether you report the crime or not.
Your rights are set out in full in the Victims’ Code.
Visit gov.uk/sexualabusesupport to see the support on offer.
Overlap host Neville shared a tweet that called the conversation ‘the most emotional, difficult yet inspirational conversation I’ve ever had in my life.’
Alli was one of the first Everton players to return to pre-season training last week.
But manager Sean Dyche recently refused to be drawn on the midfielder’s future shortly after his arrival at Goodison Park.
In April, he said: “He is not here. He has an injury which will keep him out for some time.
“Some of the stuff reported – they know what they should and shouldn’t be doing.
“As a manager, you cannot control everything in their lives.
“Should we be following them all day? You can only guide them.
“He has an injury which will take a while to sort out – it will be a number of weeks.”