Former Tottenham Hotspur star,Dele Alli, opened up to Garry Neville on the Overlap about his childhood trauma: ?

▪️ Sexually abused at 6-years old by his mother’s friend
▪️ Starting smoking at 7-years old
▪️ Sent to Africa to learn discipline at 7-years old
▪️ Forced to deal drugs at 8-years old
▪️ Hung off a bridge at 11-years old by a man from the local estate
▪️ Adopted at 12-years old

Dele_Alli has revealed that he has spent 6 weeks in rehab dealing with his mental health struggles and a sleeping pill addiction. ?

Such a brave decision to come out publicly and talk about his issues. He has to be commended for that. ?

?️ Dele Alli opening up to Gary Neville: “It’s something I haven’t really talked about. There have been a few cases. At six years old, I was sexually assaulted.

I started smoking at seven and dealing drugs at eight. An older person told me that the police would not arrest a child riding a bicycle with his soccer ball and the drugs placed under it.

My mother drank a lot, but I don’t blame her. I understood her situation by going to rehab. It was all she knew.

When she put me up for adoption, we both knew it was necessary to give me a chance at a better life.

I was adopted at 12 by an amazing family and I couldn’t have asked for better people. They helped me a lot. I tried to be the best child I could be for those few years.

I started playing with the MK Dons first team at 16 and it took off from there.

My dad disappeared for a while, then when I started playing for England he came back. I used to talk to my mom to try and help her and when I was about 18 they both went to the paper and started accusing my adoptive family of taking advantage of me.”

?️ Gary_Neville: “Where was the point where you started to feel it wasn’t right?”

?️ Dele Alli: “Like one morning I woke up. I had to go to training, this is when he’d [Mourinho] stopped playing me.

I remember just looking in the mirror. I mean it sounds dramatic, but I was literally just staring in the mirror and I was asking if I could retire now at 24?

You know, doing the thing I love. For me that was heartbreaking. It’s always been me against myself in everything. I was winning the fight, smiling, showing that I was happy, but inside I was definitely losing the battle.”

Unbelievably brave to speak out. ??