DELE: I WAS MOLESTED AT THE AGE OF SIX

EX-SPURS STAR OPENS UP ON ADDICTION BATTLE AND GOING TO REHAB AS A RESULT OF CHILDHOOD TRAUMA

- Dan Kilpatrick

DELE ALLI has opened up on his mental health struggles and revealed he was sexually abused as a child.

In an emotional interview with Gary Neville on The Overlap podcast, the former Tottenham and England midfielder said he has just returned from six weeks in rehab to treat an addiction to sleeping pills as a result of childhood trauma.

Dele revealed he was molested by a friend of his biological mother as a six-year-old, started smoking at seven and selling drugs aged eight, and was sent to Africa to live with his biological father for six months to “learn discipline”.

He admitted wanting to retire at just 24 after losing his place in Jose Mourinho’s Spurs side but insisted he is now “mentally in the best place I’ve ever been” and has got his “passion back for football”.

The Everton player, 27, returned from rehab three weeks ago and said he had hoped speaking out would help other people battling similar demons.

“Now is probably the right time for me to tell people what’s been going on,” Dele told Neville. “I’m scared to talk about it, but I think it’s the right thing to do. I’m hoping [opening up like this] helps people. It will help me. I think it’s something I needed to explain and get off my chest.

“When I came back from [a loan spell in] Turkey, I found out that I need an operation, I was in a bad place mentally and I decided to go to a modern-day rehab facility. They deal with addiction, mental health and trauma. You can’t be told to go there. You have to make the decision yourself, otherwise it’s not going to work.