Ex-England and Everton star Dele Alli bravely reveals triumph over ...
The Everton midfielder's career has taken a dive in recent years while his name has been splashed across the tabloids for all the wrong reasons. Behind the scenes, however, there was much more than met the eye. In an emotional interview Alli shared his childhood trauma, explaining how he benefitted from opening up and getting help.
Everton midfielder Dele Alli has opened up about his mental health struggles, which can be attributed to his past experiences.
In an emotional interview on The Overlap, the 27-year-old has spoken candidly about the childhood trauma and drug addiction that sent his life spiralling out of control and had him considering retirement from football.
By speaking out, Alli has called this decision a turning point and encouraged others not to be afraid and seek help when needed.
“I want to help other people to know that they’re not alone in the feelings they’ve got and that you can talk to people. It doesn’t make you weak to get help, to be vulnerable. There’s a lot of strength in that," the footballer told former England footballer Gary Neville.
“It’s getting to a time when I need to be more vulnerable, let people understand me because a lot of problems have come from me not opening up, not allowing people to come in."
IOC expands mental health support for athletes Getting help: "I was definitely losing the battle"Only a few years back, Alli was called one of football's brightest young stars. He made his senior debut at age 16, in 2012, and started playing for Tottenham Spurs three years later.
His stellar performances on the pitch earned Alli a call up to the England team for the 2018 World Cup where he helped the squad reach the semi-finals. The following year he took the Spurs to the final of the Champions League.
Things got turbulent starting in 2022 when Alli was transferred to Everton. His performance declined until he was put on the bench and later given to Turkiye's Besiktas on loan.
While tabloids printed stories on Alli's hard partying, the footballer himself revealed there was much more going on behind the scenes.
Speaking to The Overlap, an emotional Ally said he was “molested” at age six by a family friend, started smoking at age seven and was dealing drugs by the time he was eight, hiding the packages under a football while riding a bike. At 11, a man hung him off a bridge.
"It's been going on for a long time without me realising it, things I was doing to numb the feelings I had. I didn't realise I was doing it for that purpose, whether it be drinking or whatever," Alli said. "It started with that and then I got addicted to sleeping tablets."
Instead of taking one pill at night to fall asleep, Alli was taking multiple pills during the day, sometimes as early as 11 a.m, "to escape from reality".
"It got really bad at some points and I didn't understand how bad it was but I was never dealing with the root of the problem, which was - when I was growing up - the traumas I had and the feelings I was holding on to," he said.
Alli eventually returned to Everton from Besiktas due to injury. Surgery was on his to-do list, but he soon realised he was struggling with more than physical pain.
Recognising the extent of his mental health issues, Alli entered a rehabilitation centre in the United States where he spent the following six weeks.
"I was caught in a bad cycle," he said. "I was relying on things that were doing me harm. I was waking up every day and I was winning the fight going into training, smiling, showing that I was happy but inside I was definitely losing the battle, and it was time for me to change it.
"I decided to go to a modern-day rehab facility for mental health. They deal with addiction, mental health and trauma. I felt like it was time for me. With things like that, you can't be told to go there. You have to know and you have to make the decision yourself or it's not going to work."
Surfer Filipe Toledo shares mental struggles and how talking helpsDele Alli: The importance of speaking upShaken up by the troubled relationship with his birth family, Alli said he has struggled to confide in others since he was a child. This included members of the family that adopted him when he was 12.
"I was adopted by an amazing family...I couldn't have asked for better people to do what they'd done for me. If God created people, it was them," Alli said. “(But) it was hard for me to really open up to them because I felt within myself it was easy for them to get rid of me again. So I tried to be the best kid I could be for them.”
As his addiction got out of control and his behaviour became increasingly unusual, Alli's family realised he needed help. But the athlete rejected all their pleas for a frank conversation.
“I tried to deal with it all by myself. I didn’t want to tell anyone," Alli said. "I just couldn’t do it because I wanted to deal with it by myself. I didn’t feel like opening up to anyone and I had a lot of people try help me because they could see I wasn’t who I was. I lost myself for a few years and I was just turning everyone away, not accepting any help from anyone."
It was the realisation that he did need to talk that became a turning point for the footballer.
Alli has praised the decision to enter rehab, saying it has helped him to work through issues that have weighed on him since childhood.
"I was probably making the biggest decision of my life, something I was scared to do, but I’m happy I’ve done it," he said. "You hear about it, it has this whole stigma around it and it’s something that people don’t want to do. Going into rehab definitely sounds scary, but I could never have imagined how much I’d get from it and how much it would help me mentally because I was in a bad place. A lot happened when I was younger that I could never understand, I could never figure out, and I was doing stupid things that I blamed myself for, but going there and learning about it, (I realised) it was never really in my control.
“I let go of some things and some bad feelings I was holding, and that were slowing me down and holding me back.”
After his experience in rehab, Alli now encourages others who are dealing with similar issues to not stay silent.
"You can talk to people," he said. "To come out and share my story, I'm happy to do it."
For more information on the IOC’s initiatives on athlete mental health and well-being, visit the #MentallyFit section** of Athlete365.**
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