Def Leppard Drummer Rick Allen Says He’s Still Dealing With ‘Very Traumatic’ Feelings About Violent 2023 Assault

Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen says he’s still dealing with the fall-out from a 2023 incident in which a 19-year-old man rushed at him and knocked him to the ground outside a Florida hotel. In a recent interview on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk, the veteran rocker said that he has eased back on some of his non-performance efforts — including showcasing his painting on this years’s Monsters of Rock cruise — as he continues his recovery from the scary incident.

“I’ve been going through some challenging times, kind of related to what happened in Florida,” he said according to a transcription of the chat from Blabbermouth. “And that whole thing is kind of ongoing, when I got beaten up outside the hotel [there]. So I’ve been trying to deal with that the best that I can, and really I just needed to take a break from some of the side projects that I was busy with, just so I could spend more time at home. So, that’s been a real challenge for me. Hopefully I can put it all behind me and I can just kind of get back to as normal as I could possibly be given the circumstances. But that was very traumatic for me, and, yeah, it’s been difficult. But hopefully I can put it behind me soon.”

Allen was assaulted in March 2023 outside of a Fort Lauderdale, FL hotel by an Ohio man who allegedly rushed the drummer at full speed and knocked him to the ground. A police report noted that the alleged assailant hid behind a pillar outside the hotel entrance while Allen smoked and then allegedly attacked Allen, who “hit his head on the ground causing injury” and that when a woman ran out to help Allen the man allegedly attacked her as well.

The man was arrested a short time later after police found him at another hotel allegedly breaking car windows. He was charged him with two counts of battery, four counts of criminal mischief and abusing an elderly or disabled adult; Allen lost his left arm after a 1984 car accident.

Allen said he went on a cruise following the assault and found it “difficult to be around a lot of people,” leading to him deciding to stick closer to home. “I decided, ‘You know what, Rick? Don’t try and bite off more than you can chew. Just deal with this, deal with what’s in front of you. Spend as much time as you need to at home,’” he said. “And I’m just hoping, as I say, that I can put it behind me… I’d love to get back to doing some of my side projects, particularly the art. And let’s hope I can soon.”

Though he is still traumatized by the incident, Allen will be on board when the veteran band hits the road this year for a tour slated to kick off on May 15 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, followed by a summer of North American festival and amphitheater dates through October.