PITTSBURGH Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger officially announced his retirement on Thursday after 18 NFL seasons.

The praise for the Pittsburgh favorite as he exits the league, however, has drawn criticism as the football star’s dark past and rape allegations were highlighted.

Roethlisberger, who is now married with three kids, was accused of sexual assault by two women but neither of the allegations led to criminal charges.

He also suffered a 2006 motorcycle crash in which he was accused of reckless behavior and has been accused of being difficult with the media and publicly calling out his teammates.

The first allegation of sexual assault made against 39-year-old “Big Ben” was in 2009 when a woman filed a civil lawsuit against him and a Nevada hotel where she had worked.

The woman alleged in the suit that she was an employee at Lake Tahoe hotel and casino the previous year when Roethlisberger was a guest during a celebrity golf tournament.

The suit claimed that the NFL star tricked her into his bedroom in July 2008 by claiming that his TV was broken.

He then allegedly blocked the door as she tried to leave, grabbed her, and tried to kiss her.

Despite the woman telling Roethlisberger “please don’t,” he pushed her onto the bed and raped her, the suit stated, according to Vice.

Roethlisberger denied the claims and a criminal case was never brought.

“Saturday was the first that I learned of her accusations,” the Pittsburgh Steeler said at the time.

“I would never, ever force myself on a woman.”

Eight employees were also named in the suit, who the woman said defamed her and added to her emotional distress.

The woman claimed she was hospitalized in the months after the alleged assault for treatment for anxiety and depression.

She also claimed that she was discouraged from filing a criminal complaint after the resort’s chief of security said she was “overreacting.”

‘COVER UP’

The suit accused the employees of covering up the incident.

A former coworker said in an affidavit that the woman had bragged about sleeping with Roethlisberger, Vice reports.

The woman had offered to drop the case if $100,000 was donated to a charity for abused women and Roethlisberger wrote an apology letter – but this was refused.

He faced no punishment from the NFL and the suit was settled out of court in January 2012.

The second accusation came just a year later when a 20-year-old college student claimed he raped her in a bathroom stall of a nightclub in Georgia in 2010.

She said that Roethlisberger had been buying her and her friends shots and that his bodyguard then grabbed her arm and escorted her into a hallway.

The woman claimed that the quarterback was waiting there with “his penis out of his pants.”

“I told him it wasn’t OK, no, we don’t need to do this and I proceeded to get up and try to leave,” she said, according to ESPN.

“I went to the first door I saw, which happened to be a bathroom.”

‘I STILL SAID NO’

She said she tried to run into the nearby bathroom but that Roethlisberger followed her and raped her.

“I still said no, this is not OK, and he then had sex with me,” she said. “He said it was OK. He then left without saying anything.”

A subsequent medical examination found that the woman had “superficial laceration and bruising and slight bleeding in the genital area.”

However, no semen was detected.

The only police officer who had questioned Roethlisberger had reportedly met him on the night of the alleged rape and asked him for a picture.

The cop had also allegedly called the accuser a “drunken bitch,” The Guardian reports.

The case was later dropped as authorities said there was insufficient evidence.

NO CHARGES

Yet the alleged victim’s lawyer had also written a letter to the district attorney asking for a stop to prosecution.

They said that while she was not recanting her story, she did not want the “extraordinary media attention” that the case would receive.

“[H]ad [the accuser] not written and taken that position, the victim, her family, and her lawyers, that they did not want us to prosecute the matter at all—and they made it crystal clear in the letter—an honest answer is I would still be announcing the same result,” the Baldwin County district attorney said in April 2010.

“We, based on the evidence here, don’t have enough evidence to prosecute.”

After this accusation, Roethlisberger was hit with a six-game suspension from the NFL.

Yet he was allowed back to play after four games for “good behavior.”

“You have told me and the Steelers that you are committed to making better decisions,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a letter to the Steelers QB.

“Your actions over the past several months have been consistent with that promise and you must continue to honor that commitment.”

His other teammates had said the suspension was “justified,” however.

Star receiver Hines Ward said: “When you’re in the quarterback position, everybody looks to you and there are certain situations you can’t put yourself in.”

MOTORBIKE CRASH

As well as the allegations of assault, Roethlisberger suffered a motorbike crash in 2006 that left him with serious facial injuries.

He was reportedly not wearing helmet at the time and did not have a valid licence.

Roethlisberger’s football career ended on January 17 with his last game finishing in a 42-21 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

His retirement was announced on social media by his official website on Thursday.

It had been predicted after the Steelers last game.

“I don’t know how to put into words what the game of football has meant to me and what a blessing it has been,” Roethlisberger said.

“While I know with confidence I have given my all to the game, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all it has given me. A boy from Finley, Ohio with NFL dreams, developed at Oxford at Miami University, blessed with the honor of 18 seasons as a Pittsburgh Steeler and a place to call home.

“The journey has been exhilarating, defined by relationships and fueled by a spirit of competition,” he added.

“Yet, the time has come to clean out my locker, hang up my cleats, and continue to be all I can be to my wife and children.

“I retire from football a truly grateful man.”

He ends his career as a two-time Super Bowl winner and is predicted to become a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.