My eyes went red as Andrew Tate strangled me during sex… when he found fame on Big Brother his face haunted me every day
SCROLLING through social media, Evie Smith* feels sick when she sees Andrew Tate pop up on her feed.
The 30-year-old marketing executive from east London, claims Tate choked her until she passed out during sex and threatened to kill her.
She met the controversial social media influencer in August 2014, when she was 20.
At the time, he was working as a doorman at a nightclub and she was a student.
Evie claims consensual sex with Tate turned violent and is bravely sharing her story in a new Channel 4 documentary I Am Andrew Tate, which follows the rise and fall of the star.
Speaking to the documentary, she says: “I completely lost consciousness after he strangled me during sex.
“When I came to, he was still having sex with me. I don’t know how long I was knocked out, but I completely lost consciousness. He must have known that I had gone limp. I was so confused when I woke up. I had forgotten who I was, who he was and where I was.
“I just laid there completely still. Terrified. I was worried he’d do it again, and I wouldn’t wake up the second time he did it.”
Evie is the latest British woman to join a planned lawsuit against Tate. Together with three others, they are pursuing civil claims for damages.
The women, all in their late 20s and early 30s, allege they were victims of sexual violence by Tate between 2013 and 2016, when he was living in the UK.
Tate – who’s been dubbed ‘the biggest misogynist in the world’ – has denied all allegations.
A spokesperson for Andrew and Tristan Tate said: “Everyone is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The brothers firmly deny engaging in any form of witness intimidation or conspiring against anyone. All intimate encounters the brothers have had with respective partners have always been consensual and they vehemently deny all allegations.
“They find the descriptions provided shocking and upsetting as they are not reflective of their actions or character.”
But these are not the only disturbing allegations against the self-proclaimed misogynist.
In December 2022, Andrew, 37, and his brother Tristan, 35 , were arrested at their Bucharest home, in Romania for crimes of suspected human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
The brothers spent four months in a “cockroach-infested” Romanian prison cell before they were released pending investigation in August. They have since been charged and are awaiting a trial date. They deny all allegations.
“At no point did the brothers hold anyone against their will [contrary to allegations by the Romanian State Prosecutor],” their statement continued.
“Substantial evidence of the alleged victims’ moving freely in and out of the Tate residence has been submitted to court.
“Many of Andrew’s comments and videos have been taken out of context or misinterpreted. Whilst he does hold many traditional values that some may not adhere to, he deeply respects and values women.”
Tate was previously known for getting into a childish Twitter spat with Greta Thunberg, his kickboxing career and his extreme misogynistic videos.
Shockingly, he once said if a woman accused him of cheating, he would: “Bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her by the neck. Shut up, b****.”
Evie was a young, impressionable girl who was blown away by Tate when she first met him.
“I was out with one of my close friends for a quiet drink,” she tells The Sun. “I hadn’t planned on meeting anyone but my friend, who knew Andrew’s brother Tristan, spotted him and Andrew at the bar.
“We got chatting and he seemed nice enough. He was definitely cocky but when you’re younger, a bad boy seems quite appealing.
“It was exciting meeting him and because I knew he was a bit famous, I was flattered he was paying me so much attention. He didn’t express any horrible opinions that he does now, he just seemed like a cocky, young guy.”
Evie says Tate bought them drinks and she became attracted to him.
“He was quite endearing,” she continues. “He was older than me and I was swept away in the moment. It wasn’t long before we got a taxi back to his.”
Evie tells how they had sex that night without incident. In the morning, he called a taxi for her to get home.
“It was just a normal one night stand,” she continues. “He seemed like a nice enough guy and I wanted to see him again.”
‘Something switched’
The pair WhatsApped on and off over the next couple of months.
She says: “It wasn’t anything serious, we weren’t in a relationship at all. But I enjoyed the attention.
“Honestly, I think I just liked the fact that someone was interested in me. So eventually, we agreed to meet up again after a shift he was doing as a doorman at a bar near where I lived at the time. He came over at around 3am and that’s when we had sex for a second time.”
But things took a turn for the worst when Andrew got into bed.
“Something just switched,” she recalls. “He had this manic look in his eyes, like a darkness.
She told the documentary: “He said he was going to kill me, he said that he owned me and that I belonged to him.”
She adds: “He was making me say that I loved him. He was pinning me up against the wall. I didn’t know what to do, I was too scared to speak.”
Tate ended up staying the night and Evie tells how she didn’t get any sleep.
“He left early in the morning and had parked somewhere near my house. He kept saying if he got a parking ticket he would come back and kill me.
“In my head I believed he would have. I thought he was going to kick the door down. But he didn’t get the ticket.”
Evie says how Tate sent her one message – which she is not allowed to disclose for legal reasons- but she never saw him again.
“He never apologised, it was like it never happened.”
Evie tells how the “whites of her eyes went red” from him strangling her. She didn’t report it to the police at the time.
“I didn’t tell anyone,” she explains. “I felt ashamed and like it was my fault because I’d agreed to have sex with him – obviously not that kind of sex.
“But I’m older now and times are different. After the #MeToo movement there’s a lot more awareness and people talk about things a bit more.
“That’s why I want to share my story to teach young boys and girls about consent.”
Haunted by Tate fame
In the months and years after, Evie tells how it was difficult to move on because Tate was “everywhere”.
She says: “I remember seeing him on Big Brother not long after what happened but in the lockdown he started going viral. He was all over my social media TikTok feed.”
It wasn’t until about six years later when she described the alleged incident to her friends that she began to think she had been sexually assaulted.
Three people who know Evie – and say they remember her describing what had happened – have told her lawyers they are prepared to give evidence in court to that effect.
“Speaking to friends made me realise how serious it was,” she explains. “I’d bottled it up for years and it had caused me a lot of upset. It made me not trust people.
“I had to ban the hashtag from Andrew Tate and I had to come off social media to avoid him.”
Despite coming off social media, Evie tells how Tate would come up in general conversation when she was out and about or at work.
How you can get help
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
“He’s a devisive character,” she continues. “It would be hard chatting to colleagues who have no idea what he did to me. Some would defend him and say they don’t think he’s that bad and I would have to bite my tongue.”
Evie tells how she recently went on a date and left after fearing the guy had been secretly listening to Tate.
“I went on a few dates with a guy and then he started voicing misogynistic views. I wondered if he’d been secretly listening to Andrew Tate and it scared me. I never saw him again.”
Evie – who’s now having therapy to deal with the trauma – says she wants to share her experience to raise awareness about Tate and get justice.
“We hope our civil case will encourage the British police to open a criminal case against Tate.
“Hopefully I can help teach boys and girls what consent looks like. I believe there’s more victims out there and hopefully by sharing my story it will encourage more victims to come forward.”
*Evie Smith is an assumed name to protect the identity of the alleged victim
I Am Andrew Tate airs Jan 7 at 9pm on C4.