Sports reporter Erin Andrews has been in front of the camera in one form or another for more
than 15 years, and the sideline reporter's life has been filled with scandal, heartbreak
and secrets. Here's the play-by-play on Andrews' personal and professional life.
In 2008, while Andrews worked for ESPN, she was filmed nude, without her consent, through
a peephole inside a Marriott hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.
To Andrews' horror, the video was leaked online, giving anybody with an internet connection
access to the footage.
The former insurance executive who filmed her, Michael David Barrett, testified that
after confirming Andrews was staying in the hotel, he used an in-house phone in the hotel's
restaurant to dial the operator and ask to be put through to Andrews' room. Because the
in-house phone displayed room numbers, Barrett figured out where she was staying.
"I had picked up the house phone, and I called the operator and asked, 'Can I have Erin Andrews'
room?' They connected me, so then I knew what room she was in."
He then checked into the room next to Andrews' and doctored the peep hole so he could record
her with his iPhone.
Barrett was caught in 2010, when TMZ provided authorities with the email address he used
to try to shill his footage to the celebrity site. Barrett pleaded guilty and was sentenced
to 30 months in prison.
Following the criminal case, Andrews filed a civil suit against Barrett and the hotel,
seeking $75 million in restitution. During the trial, the customarily cool and calm Andrews
was visibly shaken and tearful during her testimony.
As Andrews' lawyer, Randal Kinnard, told jurors,
"This is not like being in a car wreck and breaking an arm and the arm heals and you
get over it. There have been millions and millions of hits on this video around the
world."
Andrews was ultimately awarded $55 million as a result of the civil lawsuit, roughly
$28 million from Barrett and more than $26 million from the Marriott affiliates. While
the sum of the settlement is massive, the damage on Andrews' psyche is significant too.
During Barrett's sentencing in the criminal case, Andrews said,
"Every time I check into a hotel room, I fear he is in the closet, and every time I go home,
I fear he is waiting for me. I fear for my life."
Despite the invasive nature of the traumatic incident, ESPN allegedly required Erin Andrews
to discuss the violation publically before she was allowed to return to her regular work
duties.
During her trial, she testified:
"Because there wasn't an arrest, because we didn't know where this happened, my bosses
at ESPN told me, 'Before you go back on air for college football, we need you to give
a sit-down interview.'"
Andrews also testified that ESPN "highly" recommended that she appear on ABC's Good
Morning America, which shares Disney as a parent company. She chose instead to sit down
with Oprah Winfrey.
"I'm getting better. It's been a nightmare, and I still, kind of, every day want to say,
'Am I gonna wake up? I'm ready to wake up.'"
Sexism in sports is nothing new, and for Erin Andrews, her job covering the NFL includes
countless derogatory comments, from internet trolls to fashion critics to cat-calling fans
in the stands.
Andrews has been vocal about sexism in sports and sports media, but during the peephole
trial, she referenced a more insidious form of discrimination. She said during testimony,
"Probably for like three months, everybody thought it was a publicity stunt. The front
page of the New York Post said 'ESPN Scandal.' To Fox News and CBS, everybody put up that
I was doing it for publicity and attention, and that ripped me apart."
During the legal proceedings regarding the peephole footage, an attorney for the Marriott
asked Andrews if her career had "thrived" following the publicity from the nude video.
According to Page Six, lawyer Marc Dedman read a list of endorsement deals Andrews had
secured since the incident, including collaborations with brands such as Degree antiperspirant,
Florida Orange Juice, and Victoria's Secret. He also noted that she received a better contract
from ESPN, followed by an even better contract when she jumped to Fox.
"You also got an endorsement for Reebok?"
"Yes."
Andrews agreed in court that her professional career had improved since the invasive incident,
but the implication that being a victim of a crime was therefore good for her was a uniquely
slimy aspect of the crime, trial, and associated media coverage and commentary, as was the
early suggestion that she had faked it all for publicity.
While some members of the public spoke out against the massive judgment Andrews and her
lawyers requested, others said that was all beside the point. In the sarcastic words of
The Federalist columnist Rachel Lu,
"Michael David Barrett stalked her and humiliated her before the entire country, and now she's
a success! Be grateful, Erin Andrews!"
Erin Andrews attracted harsh criticism for comments she made while reporting for ESPN
during the 2011 Rose Bowl college football game. During the broadcast, she said players
were slipping in their Nike cleats. On its surface, that observation seems fairly innocuous,
but after the game, The Oregonian reported that Andrews had signed an endorsement deal
with Nike's top competitor, Reebok, creating what many believed to be a journalistic conflict
of interest.
"If you're tired and if you don't feel like going to the gym, or get a workout in, put
these babies on. You're gonna wake right up and everybody around you's gonna go, 'Hello,
those are amazing, what are those?'"
Joel Kaplan, associate dean at the prestigious S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
at Syracuse University, commented on the incident to The New York Times, saying,
"I consider sports journalists and sports broadcasters to be ethically challenged in
a lot of different ways, but even this has surpassed my wildest imagination."
On the other hand, or foot, in this case, some said Andrews is more performer than journalist,
and therefore less restricted by journalistic ethics.
Bob Dorfman, creative director of Baker Street Advertising in San Francisco, commented with
his own counter-interpretation, saying,
"I think Erin would be the first person to tell you that she's an entertainer, and certainly
everything in her career has been in the entertainment field."
Andrews covered the 2016 regular NFL season without missing a single game before revealing
that she'd spent the year battling cervical cancer.
She was reportedly diagnosed in September 2016, at the start of the NFL season, and
underwent surgery for the cancer in October. According to TMZ, she then took a flight to
Green Bay two days after the procedure to return to work.
Andrews later told Sports Illustrated,
"Should I have been standing for a full game five days after surgery? Let's just say the
doctor didn't recommend that. But just as I felt during my trial, sports were my escape.
I needed to be with my crew."
In 2018, around a year-and-a-half after her diagnosis, Erin Andrews was finally declared
cervical cancer-free. She reportedly received the good news while backstage on the set of
Dancing With the Stars. She later recounted the moment to InStyle, saying,
"Everyone on my team knew that I was waiting, and when I saw the number calling, I put it
on speakerphone. The doctor said, 'You're good to go, and I'll see you in six months
for a checkup,' and it was a ton of relief."
On September 3, 2014, veteran NFL correspondent Pam Oliver penned an open letter to Essence,
expressing sadness and humiliation over losing her job as a primetime sideline reporter to
Erin Andrews.
Fox Sports reportedly told Oliver that its fledgling sub-network, FS1, could use a veteran
like Oliver to build up its credibility. But to Oliver, the shift felt like a passive-aggressive
way of saying she was too old for the big leagues.
Oliver wrote,
"The business is very demographic-oriented. As one executive said to me, 'Fox Sports will
look radically different in the coming years.' I assume that means they want to look younger.
It's not difficult to notice that the new on-air people there are all young, blond and
'hot.'"
She also clarified that she wasn't aiming to impugn Andrews' talents with her comments,
just the decision process that saw her be replaced.
Unsurprisingly, it turned out to be less-than-ideal for Fox Sports' image that it appeared to
force out Oliver, a reporter who had held her position for two decades, for a woman
with a younger look.
Thus, in 2015, Fox invited Oliver back to the sidelines alongside announcers Kevin Burkhardt
and John Lynch for the 2015-2016 NFL seasons.
Did Erin Andrews not take her former ESPN job seriously? That would appear to be the
assessment of her erstwhile College GameDay coworker, Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard.
According to the New York Post, the famed college football analyst painted an unflattering
description of Andrews' behavior at staff meetings for the show, detailing how the reporter
would allegedly often scroll through celebrity gossip websites in the midst of discussing
business.
On a 2018 episode of the podcast Origins with James Andrew Miller, Howard claimed,
"In the meetings, she had some stuff going on with Dancing with the Stars or whatever.
So, she was kind of like into that Hollywood scene. I remember we're in a meeting and she
was talking about Perez Hilton."
By contrast, Howard had only compliments to offer about Andrews' ESPN replacement, Samantha
Ponder, suggesting that she was much less concerned with the more frivolous side of
showbiz reporting than Andrews.
Andrews appeared to respond that same week to Howard's slights, answering a fan's tweet
welcoming to her to Minnesota with the cheeky rejoinder,
"Love it...maybe not 'Hollywood' enough for me though."
During her interview with Health, Erin Andrews admitted that she hid her cancer diagnosis
because it came on the heels of her trial over the stalking video, and she didn't want
to make any more waves with her male colleagues. She said,
"Working with a bunch of men, I didn't wanna be like, 'Sooo, they think I have cervical
cancer,' and they'd be like, 'Where's your cervix?' But I'd also come off this huge trial
that was kind of the focus of the summer, and I don't want to be the girl that always
has the problems at the table."
While that sure sounds like another unfortunate example of sexism, it also speaks to Andrews'
dedication to being taken seriously as a sportscaster.
Case in point, as the 2017 NFL season started, People reported that Andrews scrambled to
make sure one of her outfits wouldn't be too revealing for TV, and even went so far as
to pull an old pajama top out of her suitcase to avoid a fiasco, throwing a leather jacket
over top to complete the makeshift look. She recalled,
"I didn't spill any syrup on it from my breakfast, so no one could tell I slept in it the night
before!"
In July 2020, ABC shocked Dancing with the Stars fans when it announced that Erin Andrews,
along with co-host Tom Bergeron, would not return for the 29th season of the reality
show.
The studio was adamant in its official statement that the hosts' twin exits were nothing personal,
attributing them to "a new creative direction" for the long-running series. It was later
announced that Tyra Banks would be taking on a new role as host for the show.
ABC said of Andrews' departure,
"Fans have been rooting for her since she originally competed as a contestant back in
2010, and her signature sense of humor has become a hallmark of the show."
For her part, Andrews immediately took to Twitter to express an apparent lack of hard
feelings for her and Bergeron's abrupt removal. She wrote warmly,
"Thank you ABC and the entire Dancing with the Stars family for six memorable seasons.
Those years wouldn't have been as special without my loving host Tom Bergeron, the talented
dancers and witty judges. I will always cherish my days on that set, even if I wasn't the
best at walking in heels."
DWTS judge Carrie Ann Inaba, who is reportedly staying on for the 29th season, shared her
emotional reaction to Andrews' and Bergeron's sudden leaving during an episode of The Talk,
saying, quote, "I feel like it was just such sudden news, and my heart breaks for Tom and
Erin."
"We're a bonded family, and I love them both so much. And I cried when I heard the news,
as well as, I think, a lot of our fans did."
But Inaba also said she expects both of the former hosts to land on their feet just fine,
and as far as Erin Andrews is concerned, we have to agree with that. As we've seen over
the years, she's faced challenges much worse than this, and she keeps coming out on top.
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