Premier League youth footballer-turned-porn star Oliver Spedding has died at the age of 34.
The tragedy comes just weeks after Spedding, better known on social media as Damian Oliver, hit headlines for falsely claiming that his wife, adult star Sophie Anderson, was dead.
Whilst the circumstances surrounding Spedding’s death have not yet been confirmed, it is largely accepted that, this time, the news is true.
On Saturday, Spedding’s former club Croydon FC released a statement, describing him as a “much-loved individual who always gave his utmost effort for the team.”
"Oliver will be hugely missed by everyone at the club and our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time,” they added.
The club also held a minute’s silence ahead of their match against Meridian VP.
Friends and ex-colleagues have paid tributes to the former sportsman, while fans have shared their shock at the terrible real-life plot twist.
Back in September, Spedding announced that Anderson, 35, had “died unfortunately,” and even provided details of her funeral.
In one X/Twitter reply, he insisted that he “hadn’t lied” about the “bad news”, adding that people could pay their respects at a crematorium in Bromley, southeast London, on 12 September.
However, the day after the cremation that never was, the former footballer tweeted a lengthy statement, revealing that he had “20 hours in a cell because of the stupid hoax”.
He continued: “I cannot say anything more as part of my bail conditions but it was just a silly drunken joke.”
He then dropped two bombshells, writing that he and Anderson were having a baby and that they had just got married. “We are unbreakable,” he added.
The message was swiftly followed up by a photo showing him standing beside Anderson, apparently during their wedding, which he said took place at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas.
Anderson who, while all of this was playing out, had been silent on social media, later supported Spedding’s claims by sharing the same wedding photo to her Twitter/X account.
Over the subsequent weeks, the two of them posted explicit content of each other – both separately and together – including an X-rated spoof of the film Scream for Halloween.
The last time Spedding posted to social media was around 12 November, with Anderson last writing on Twitter/X last week.
Her post was about their marriage, which she said she’d “never forget”.
Whilst the porn icon has yet to address the “love of her life’s” passing, tributes have been pouring in from admirers.
Croydon FC manager Liam Giles shared his devastation at the “heartbreaking news", writing on X/Twitter: "Ollie was a warrior on the pitch and gave 100 per cent every time he represented Croydon FC.
"We spoke a couple of weeks ago about him getting back into football.
"I hope you find your peace, mate - sleep tight."
His apparent desire to return to sport is perhaps unsurprising, given admissions he’s made about his career change in the past.
Spedding said he never would have envisaged a career in the adult industry as a kid hanging out in south-east London gangs, but fell into it after escaping an abusive relationship.
Speaking on the ‘Anything Goes with James English' podcast last year, the one-time athlete, who played for Crystal Palace academy in his youth, lamented how he “let himself down” at the age of 17 by “going off the rails”
He admitted that he ended up in prison after his grandmother died, and could have made more of his other talents, instead of chasing a name for himself in porn.
“When I was at Crystal Palace, if I’d have stayed with them, then I could have been earning a lot more playing football. I used to fight as well, maybe that could have gone somewhere,” he said.
“I was good at both [of those] things, but being a porn star, I thought that would be just as good. But it’s not as good as people think.”
Still, it wasn’t all bad. Spedding met Anderson through the industry, and they set up their own blue movie production company.
Acknowledging that he could never have dreamed that “one of the biggest porn stars in the country” would be his “soulmate”, he said Anderson was “the first person that I feel like I've ever had the ultimate connection with – she is like my twin”.
“We're so compatible,” he added in his ‘Anything Goes’ interview. anders“I've never had anyone that connects on so many different levels like that.”
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