I sufferedmanchestereveningnews.co.uk abuse nightmare as a boy, says United legend Evra
EX-FOOTBALLER WAS SEXUALLY ASSAULTED BY TEACHER AGED 13
PATRICE Evra has bravely spoken about the ‘nightmare’ sexual abuse he suffered as a child.
The 41-year-old former United and France captain says he was attacked by a teacher when he was 13.
He has revealed that feelings of ‘shame and guilt’ led him to live with the effects of the abuse, without telling anyone, for over a decade.
He has now further spoken out about his experience as part of a new global campaign aimed at eradicating violence towards children. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I lived with [it] until I was like 24-years-old when the police called me. I was still playing for Monaco, they said ‘this man, there had been lots of complaints from other kids, that they have been sexually abused, did he do anything to yourself?’ and I said ‘no.’
“I lied. I lied because, first of all you feel shame about yourself, you feel guilty, and also you’re scared about what people are going to think. I was already a famous person. And I regret. I feel like I live like a coward all those years because it’s not about me, it’s about those kids.” Evra first detailed his experience in his autobiography I Love This Game, which was released last
Autumn. He credited his fiancee Margaux with helping him to ‘get rid of that toxic masculinity’ and speak about it. He said ‘the most devastating moment’ was having to tell his mother what had happened.
“I was 13-years-old and I told my mum at the age of 40, I had been sexually abused, so of course she was devastated. I told her I was going to put it in my autobiography, I need to be honest with everyone.
“She said ‘no it’s too personal’ and I said ‘Mummy, this is not for me, it is for the children’ and she said ‘yes, I agree.’”
Evra was speaking as part of a new global campaign Together to #ENDviolence which launches today.
Research as part of the campaign estimates 85 million more boys and girls may have been exposed to physical, sexual and emotional violence during the pandemic.
He said he wanted to see kids ‘protected by the law,’ for example with the banning of smacking.
“I have been playing football my whole life but I am not just a football player.
“Now I want to make the world a better place,” he added.
I feel like I live like a coward all those years because it’s not about me, it’s about those kids Patrice Evra