Troy Deeney on His Time in Prison, the Hate He Gets on Social Media and Why Everyone Should Be in Therapy

Footballer Troy Deeney has lived quite a life. He grew up on a Birmingham council estate, where his career options amounted to either selling drugs or working at the local Land Rover plant. Aged nine, he was a victim of domestic abuse, and by 22, having climbed the football pyramid to make it as a professional footballer, found himself in prison. It was after his release that he began working on himself, and now sees a therapist once a week. Here, he discusses with Men’s Health what it was like to be in prison, while his friend Anthony Joshua was winning gold at the London 2012 Olympics, what it’s like to be a Black footballer on social media and how therapy has taught him to be “unapologetically” him.