Erin Andrews is opening up about the moment she learned she was stalked and videotaped without her consent.
For those unaware of the story, back in 2008 when Andrews was at the height of her sideline reporting career, a man began to stalk her every move. Now, Andrews is opening up about that horrific time in her life.
While talking with Hoda Kotb on her podcast Making Space, Andrews recalled the moment she learned about the video that was taken without her consent that depicted her changing in a hotel room. When the video was first made public on the internet, Andrew admitted that, at first, “people thought it was a scandal and I’m the square from high school. I don’t do those things.”
But Andrews denied it. No way that was possible, she never filmed herself or consented to such. “I knew the second I got the phone call from my friend at Sports Illustrated that he said, ‘There’s this video,’ and I said, ‘No, there’s not. I don’t do that. I’m single. I don’t have that going on in my life.'”
But it was clear, it was her in the video and she immediately called her parents. “I called my parents and my dad said he had thought I had been in a car accident. Because I was just screaming and I feel so bad because my parents were incredible.”
“I was in my thirties when that happened,” she said on the verge of tears. “I resorted to being 15 years old because, in terms of not wanting to deal, my parents were really on the forefront.”
It was later learned that the video nonconsensual video was captured by Michael David Barrett, who followed Andrews to the Nashville Marriott hotel while she was covering a college football game. Barrett managed to find Andrews’s hotel room and tampered with the peephole in her door.
After being caught, Barrett admitted that he purposely rented hotel rooms next to Andrews in three different cities, filming her from the peephole every time.
He was sentenced to 27 months in prison for his crimes. He was later mandated to pay Andrew $27 million in damages.
Now Erin is doing better than ever. Still at the top of her career, Andrews is married and welcomed her first child into the world this year.
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