I was abused at age 6 and have fought sleeping pills addiction

Football ace on rehab rescue...Broken home led to drug crime...Peers applaud inspiring honesty

- PAUL BYRNE

TROUBLED ex-England star Dele Alli checked himself into rehab after becoming addicted to sleeping tablets.

And in an emotional interview released yesterday, he revealed he was sexually abused when he was six years old and started dealing drugs two years later.

Everton midfielder Dele, 27, said he spent six weeks in a clinic in the US after returning to the UK in April, following a disastrous loan spell in Turkey.

Speaking on Gary Neville's podcast The Overlap, he said: "I got addicted to sleeping tablets, it's a problem not only I have.

"It's going around more than people realise in football.

"Now is probably the right time to tell people. It's tough to talk about it as it's quite recent and something I've hid for a long time, and I'm scared to talk about.

"When I came back from Turkey I found out I needed an operation. I was in a bad place mentally.

"So I decided to go to a modern rehab facility that deals with addiction and mental health and trauma. I felt it was time for me.

"I was in a bad cycle. I was relying on things that were doing me harm. So I went there for six weeks. Everton were amazing and supportive. I will be grateful to them for ever."

He added: "There is a stigma around it and it's something people don't want to do. Going into rehab is scary but I could never have imagined how much I'd get from it."

The former Spurs star, who at times fought back tears during the interview, spoke about his troubled childhood in Milton Keynes, with his biological mum Denise, 60.

She had split from her husband, Nigerian businessman Kehinde Alli, 57, known as Kenny, soon after their son Dele's birth. Kenny has since remarried.

Dele said: "At six, I was molested by my mum's friend who was at the house a lot. Mum was an alcoholic.