Everton midfielder Dele Alli, who plays in the English Premier League, revealed that he was subjected to sexual exploitation in his childhood and entered the world of drugs before being adopted by a "wonderful" family that helped him turn his life around. Alli, a former international player, shared in an interview with Gary Neville on the program "The Overlap" that he spent six weeks in a rehabilitation center due to an addiction to sleeping pills.
Alli joined Everton in February of last year on a two-and-a-half-year contract, hoping to revitalize his career after spending seven years at Tottenham Hotspur. He was loaned to Turkish club Beşiktaş for the 2022-2023 season and exited the rehabilitation center last month.
The 27-year-old player stated, "It went on for a long time without me realizing. I was taking (sleeping pills) to numb my feelings; I didn't know I was taking them for that reason." He added, "I heavily abused the pills. Things got really bad at one point, and I didn't realize how bad it was, but I wasn't dealing with the underlying issue, the traumas I faced as a child and the feelings I was trying to cope with on my own. I wasn't myself for a few years."
Born in Milton Keynes, England, to a Nigerian father and an English mother, Alli's father left shortly after his birth. He spent two years in Nigeria with his father during his early childhood before returning to England. At the age of 13, he was adopted by Alan and Sally Hickford.
During the interview, he appeared emotional while discussing his troubled childhood. He disclosed that he was sexually abused by a friend of his mother when he was six years old and entered the world of drugs at the age of eight. He said, "At six, I was abused. They sent me to Africa to learn discipline. After that, they brought me back. I started smoking at seven. I entered the world of drugs at eight. At eleven, someone from the nearby housing estate hung me on the bridge. At twelve, adoption came, and then I was adopted by a wonderful family."
Everton expressed their support for the player, stating in a statement, "The club supports Dele in regaining his fitness and overcoming the personal challenges he highlighted in his interview."
