Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen has opened up about being violently assaulted outside a Florida hotel two years ago, revealing that he’s still coping with the trauma of the attack.
Allen appeared on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation” on April 17th and discussed the reason why he opted to not exhibit his artwork on this year’s Monsters of Rock cruise.
“I’ve been going through some challenging times, kind of related to what happened in Florida,” Allen told host Eddie Trunk (as transcribed by 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.
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He added: “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, who famously lost his left arm in a 1984 car crash, explained that he already went out on a cruise since the assault and found it “difficult to be around a lot of people.”
And so 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.”
Thus far, the drummer hasn’t let the lingering trauma interfere with his duties in Def Leppard, as the band recently mapped out a Summer 2025 North American tour (get tickets here), and was also just announced as a headliner of the Rock the Tides destination festival this November in Mexico.
As previously reported, Allen was violently assaulted in March 2025 outside of a hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The assailant, 19-year-old Max Edward Hartley, was arrested shortly after the incident and was charged with four counts of criminal mischief; one count of misdemeanor battery; and one count of aggravated battery (per a Fort Lauderdale police incident report).
Hartley allegedly charged at Allen, who hit his head after being knocked to the ground. The assailant also apparently attacked a woman who tried to interfere in the incident, hitting her repeatedly and dragging her by the hair.