While Andy Carroll has chosen to 'lay into' his ex in his jaw-dropping autobiography, Billi Mucklow has remained remarkably silent. Until now. Here, friends reveal why the Towie star has finally had ENOUGH

It is fast becoming the most vicious showbiz divorce of recent times. Former England footballer Andy Carroll and his estranged wife Billi Mucklow – for a time, one of Essex’s top celebrity couples – are still at war two years after they split.

And this week, that fallout became even more ferocious after Andy revealed candid details about their time together in his autobiography, Owning It.

Describing their turbulent two-year marriage as a ‘car crash’, he admits the relationship was ‘on its last legs’ before they had even walked down the aisle.

But while Andy, 37, has chosen to speak about his marriage and its unedifying ending, former Towie star Billi, also 37, has remained remarkably quiet. And, friends tell me, it’s for a good reason – she is said to be furious at his decision to air their dirty linen in public.

Friends say that, with the divorce proceedings dragging on and becoming increasingly costly, he is deliberately ‘cashing in’ on their split by publishing the book and netting some much-needed funds.

The former England and Newcastle striker, who now plays for and co-owns non-league side Dagenham & Redbridge, is, sources say, ‘cash strapped’.

And given the number of foreign holidays he is taking with his new partner, celebrity hairstylist Lou Teasdale, it’s little surprise he needs the money, they claim.

The source says: ‘Andy talking about Billi so negatively in his book speaks a thousand words, especially while she continues to look after his kids while he gallivants off.

‘She hasn’t said one bad word about him yet look what he is saying about her and their relationship.

‘While Andy’s new life continues to play out in public, Billi appears to be taking a rather different approach. Those who know her say she has handled the situation with dignity.

‘That’s not to say Billi has stopped being cross about all of this but, while Andy is writing books and cavorting with Lou, she’s looking after all of his kids.’

One pal says Billi is doing ‘God’s work’ by not only raising her three children with Andy – Arlo, 11, Wolf, eight, and six-year-old Marvel Mae – but by also helping to support his two older children from a previous relationship, Emilie Rose, 17, and Lucas, 15.

Billi’s Towie co-star Shelby Tribble, who is preparing to marry her brother Sam Mucklow, told the Daily Mail that Billi was ‘an incredible mum’.

In the meantime, over the past two months alone, Andy and Lou – who have been dating on and off since 2024 – have been jetting to the Mediterranean for two holidays in Ibiza and one in Majorca.

During one of their trips to Ibiza in June, Lou was joined by her daughter Lux, 15, and her best friend Elsie – but none of Andy’s children.

‘None of it looks very good for Andy,’ says my source. ‘He has just gone off, written a book, and dumped all over Billi while she is caring for his children.’

Andy and Billi were engaged for eight years before marrying in 2022, a wedding that nearly didn’t go ahead after photographs emerged of the footballer in bed with a blonde bar manager during a wild stag do in Dubai.

The marriage was over within two years, with Andy confirming that the couple were divorcing after ‘a hard few months for our family’.

Just weeks after their split, Andy and Lou, 42, revealed that they had struck up a romance and the couple were soon posting photographs on social media from their holidays in Spain.

Understandably, that enraged Billi, who is still living in the £7.5million family home in Essex, which they bought from Sir Rod Stewart. The grade II-listed home features a full-size football pitch, an outdoor pool, its own lake, a wood-panelled dining room and landscaped gardens, and Billi has previously said she was ‘determined’ to remain in the property.

But it has now had to be put on the market, with £1million knocked off the price tag, earlier this month.

Andy’s references to Lou in his book are likely to upset Billi yet further, however.

In it, he reveals that he first met Lou while he was still married to Billi – the night after the couple had attended the birthday party for one of Billi’s best friends.

According to Andy, he ‘laid it on’ Lou in those early days, discussing his children and ‘car crash of a marriage’.

He described being able to speak to Lou about his relationship as a ‘relief’, saying it allowed him to ‘share my pain with someone’.

It was Lou, too, who is said to have encouraged Andy to reveal in the book that he had been sexually assaulted by a man in 2021 while he was sleeping, which resulted in the unnamed man being jailed for three years.

Lou now features heavily in his life, and the pair are even represented by the same agency, Keye Talent Group, which also represents stars including Kelly Osbourne. Lou’s best friend Lottie Tomlinson, the sister of One Direction’s Louis, is also signed to the agency.

If there is any consolation for Billi it is that Andy might not scoop as much cash from his book as he might like.

It was originally on sale for £22 but the price has already been slashed to £15.89 on Amazon.

‘That will give Billi a giggle,’ says a friend.