Ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has finally broken his silence about the "pain" he experienced after he was caught spitting at a teenage girl, who happened to be a Manchester United fan, in 2018.
The infamous incident not only caused him immense embarrassment but "knocked him for six months" as he revealed that he sought psychological help to overcome his guilt.
The spitting happened after Liverpool were beaten 2-1 by United at Old Trafford in March 2018. While driving away from the stadium, Carraghar was mocked by a rival fan who pulled up next to him – the pundit then spat at her through her open car window.
"Coming home from Old Trafford and then when I lost my job at Sky – I'm someone who's quite on the front foot, if someone attacks me," he told fellow Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville on his YouTube show.
"But that knocked me for six months. For a good six months I wasn't myself. I'd get up in the morning and just have that pain in my stomach, oh that did happen," Carraghar added.
He disclosed that Steve Peters, a noted English psychiatrist, who has worked with the British cycling team and UK Athletics, was the man behind his renaissance.
"I went to see Steve Peters after it. I felt really bad, embarrassed, my family, my mum or dad. And the kids. I remember getting back to the house that night when I'd been at Sky. I haven't seen the kids, they're at school, and you just get back and we all sat together and it was tough," the former Liverpool superstar continued.
The 43-year-old also revealed that what hurt him the most was the public glare as everywhere he went, people apparently looked at him with disgust.
"Even though we're in the public eye, we're not the royals, Beckham, big stars. You read them on the front page. When it's you, everywhere I went it felt like people were looking at me," Carragher said.
However, Carragher has put that incident behind him and has successfully rebuilt his reputation as one of the best football pundits in the UK. He currently co-hosts Sky Sports' Monday Night Football with former England teammate Gary Neville.