Patrice Evra was sexually assaulted as a teenager: “It was a big shock to my mother when I told her” | Football

He added that it was much more difficult to tell his mother than to talk about it in his autobiography or in interviews. “Of course she was very shocked,” he told the British newspaper. “It was a difficult time for me and I still haven’t told some of my brothers, sisters and close friends,” said the France international.

Evra, who was born in Dakar, said he decided to tell about his past to help other children in a similar situation. “I’m not looking for pity, it’s a difficult situation,” he said. “A mother doesn’t expect to hear such things from her own child. I didn’t tell her until now, when I was 40. It was a big shock to her, a lot of anger came up.”

“She told me not to put it in my book. But I told her that it was not about me, but about other children who are confronted with this. She said she was fine with that, that she understood.”

The French former footballer said he had not filed a complaint against the person who committed the abuse, one of his teachers. “The first thing my mother said to me was, ‘If you don’t do it, I will. If he’s still alive, I’ll kill him.” But I buried it so deep in me that I didn’t even think about filing a complaint.”

Evra added that when he was 24 and then playing for Monaco, he had received a call from the police about his alleged abuser but was unable to say what had happened. “I deeply regret that because I could have helped so many people,” said Evra.