Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen has opened up about being violently assaulted outdoors a Florida resort two years in the past, revealing that he’s nonetheless dealing with the trauma of the assault.
Allen appeared on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation” on April seventeenth and mentioned the explanation why he opted to not exhibit his art work on this yr’s Monsters of Rock cruise.
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“I’ve been going by some difficult instances, sort of associated to what occurred in Florida,” Allen instructed host Eddie Trunk (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “And that entire factor is sort of ongoing, after I acquired overwhelmed up outdoors the resort [there]. So I’ve been making an attempt to cope with that one of the best that I can, and actually I simply wanted to take a break from a few of the aspect tasks that I used to be busy with, simply so I might spend extra time at house.
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He added: “So, that’s been an actual problem for me. Hopefully I can put all of it behind me and I can simply sort of get again to as regular as I might probably be given the circumstances. However that was very traumatic for me, and, yeah, it’s been troublesome. However hopefully I can put it behind me quickly.”
Allen, who famously misplaced his left arm in a 1984 automobile crash, defined that he already went out on a cruise because the assault and located it “troublesome to be round lots of people.”
And so I made a decision, ‘You understand what, Rick? Don’t attempt to chunk off greater than you possibly can chew. Simply cope with this, cope with what’s in entrance of you. Spend as a lot time as it is advisable to at house,’” he mentioned. “And I’m simply hoping, as I say, that I can put it behind me… I’d like to get again to doing a few of my aspect tasks, notably the artwork. And let’s hope I can quickly.”
So far, the drummer hasn’t let the lingering trauma intrude along with his duties in Def Leppard, because the band lately mapped out a Summer time 2025 North American tour (get tickets right here), and was additionally simply introduced as a headliner of the Rock the Tides vacation spot competition this November in Mexico.
As beforehand reported, Allen was violently assaulted in March 2025 outdoors of a resort in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The assailant, 19-year-old Max Edward Hartley, was arrested shortly after the incident and was charged with 4 counts of felony mischief; one rely of misdemeanor battery; and one rely of aggravated battery (per a Fort Lauderdale police incident report).
Hartley allegedly charged at Allen, who hit his head after being knocked to the bottom. The assailant additionally apparently attacked a girl who tried to intrude within the incident, hitting her repeatedly and dragging her by the hair.