The Tragic Life Of Erin Andrews

Erin Andrews has been a major figure on television for decades. Whether you've followed her since her early days covering the National Hockey League on ESPN, watched as she competed on "Dancing with the Stars" in 2010, or caught her broadcasts on Fox Sports, odds are that you've seen her work at some point. Andrews might live an enviable, lavish life as an NFL sideline reporter, rubbing shoulders with some big time names, but she has unfortunately endured more hardship throughout her career than many realize.

A number of incidents have plagued the reporter, with one particularly devastating event in 2008 that changed Andrews' life forever. From the trials and tribulations of making it in a competitive industry to health issues and personal struggles, she has sadly been through the wringer. Fortunately, it seems the Fox Sports personality has come out the other side stronger than ever, but it hasn't been easy. Here are all the details on the tragic life of Erin Andrews.

Today, you would have a hard time determining if Erin Andrews has ever felt anything less than confident at NFL football games. Her knowledge and conviction on the sidelines sets her apart, and she has buddied up with enough elite sports figures — even jokingly taking credit for setting up Travis Kelce with Taylor Swift. However, this rapport took time to build, and back when Andrews was freelancing for a Florida station at just 19 or 20, she had one of her worst days on the job.

In February 2024, while speaking on the "Calm Down" podcast she co-hosts with fellow sports commentator Charissa Thompson, a listener asked if either of the hosts had ever cried during work. Andrews went on to explain that early on in her career, she had been tasked with getting a soundbite from the locker room of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. "A particular player was so nasty to me. He physically turned his back away from me in the middle of his scrum. He also told me to go back, rehearse my question, and come back when I was ready. I was mortified," Andrews shared.

Although she had rehearsed and prepared for the interview, the reporter admitted that she did fumble over her words a little. "I instantly started having tears come down my face," Andrews continued. Thankfully two Tampa Bay Buccaneers players, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch, spotted that she was in distress and went over to offer their support.

Erin Andrews has had more than a few hurdles to overcome to get to where she is today. One incident, which perhaps caused the most devastating blow to both her career and mental health, occurred back in 2008 while she was staying at a Marriott in Nashville, Tennessee, while working for ESPN. At one point during her stay, Andrews changed her clothes while she was unknowingly filmed through the hotel room door's peephole, which had been altered by a stalker, Michael David Barrett.

The footage was posted online and before long, an estimated 16.8 million people had seen the sideline reporter naked. In speaking with the New York Post in May 2024, Andrews explained how difficult this time was, and how it left a lasting impact on her. "I would walk around stadiums and just think, 'Everybody in this stadium has seen me naked, and I didn't have a choice.' It was really hard," she shared.

Barrett, was later sentenced to 30 months in prison. Andrews also won a hefty lawsuit against Barrett. He was ordered to pay the reporter $28 million in damages. While this could be seen as a win for Andrews, what had happened to her was a tremendous violation that couldn't be undone. "[The video is] going to be on the internet until I die," she said solemnly during her testimony in 2016 (via CNN).

During the trial, Erin Andrews accused Marriott of failing to protect her privacy against Michael David Barrett, who had reportedly requested the room next to hers in order to record her. While the Fox Sports reporter's lawyers fought to prove she had suffered "severe and permanent" emotional distress, Marriott requested a series of documents about Andrews to argue against this.

According to The Wrap, representatives of the hotel chain had reached out to Fox for her "contracts, performance reviews, [and] any disciplinary reports," despite the fact that Andrews was employed by ESPN at the time of the illicit recording. In addition to these records, Marriott also sought "physician letters, notes, annual physicals, and other related medical records," and a subpoena was granted by the judge. Andrews argued that Marriott was attempting to "harass and embarrass" her with these requests, and was again violating her privacy after the hotel had already failed to protect her from a stalker.

Although she was initially seeking $75 million in damages, the jury eventually sided with Andrews in the case and the Nashville Marriott was ordered to pay her $26 million. The entire amount she was awarded in the trial totaled an estimated $55 million, with Barrett responsible for 51%, and the Nashville Marriott hotel runner to provide the remaining 49%.

During her testimony as part of the trial against her stalker and Marriott, Erin Andrews spoke of suffering from depression, anxiety, and panic attacks as a lasting effect of being recorded without her knowledge. Although she went on to win the case, the months following her images being leaked online were devastating, as the sideline reporter explained to the New York Post during her May 2024 interview, "I had to prove to a lot of people that I didn't put those pictures up of myself."

Countless people thought that Andrews had somehow concocted the stalking incident, and ESPN wanted her to publicly clarify what happened. In 2016, during another part of her testimony, she explained, "My bosses at ESPN told me, 'Before you go back on air for college football we need you to give a sit-down interview.' And that was the only way I was going to be allowed back" (via Mashable).

Andrews was allowed to select who conducted the interview, and she settled on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." However, Andrews continued, she still didn't want to have to share her story this way. "I just said, 'I don't want to do this. I just want to go back to college football. I don't want to talk about what happened to me.'" Andrews went forward with the interview and ESPN allowed her to come back, but only after she had been forced to relive the traumatic incident.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

Erin Andrews' suit against her stalker and Marriott wrapped in March of 2016, but she sadly had just months to relax before her life turned upside down yet again. In September of the same year, the reporter received the devastating diagnosis of cervical cancer following a routine exam. Her oncologist recommended she come in for surgery right away, but Andrews was still putting her work first. She finally received the operation a couple weeks later.

While she absolutely should've been recouping afterwards, she was back to traveling to cover another football game just two days later. In speaking with Sports Illustrated's The MMQB (via People) in January 2017, Andrews remarked, "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."

Not long after, Andrews underwent a second surgery and, thankfully, learned she was cancer-free before December 2016. It was a life changing experience for the Fox Sports reporter, and she has since advocated for women to get tested for cervical cancer regularly, teaming up with Hologic's We Can Change This STAT initiative in the process. As Andrews explained in the company's March 2018 press release, "Going to my doctor for regular testing saved my life. ... No matter how busy you are, you have to find the time to be tested regularly for cervical cancer."

Back in 2010, Erin Andrews competed on the incredibly popular ABC show "Dancing with the Stars." After continuing her work as a sports reporter, she returned to the show in 2014, this time as a co-host alongside Tom Bergeron, who had served in the position since 2005. Their charisma and enthusiasm on the show worked well for viewers until the hosts announced separately in July 2020 that they would not be returning for the show's 29th season. "I will always cherish my days on that set, even if I wasn't the best at walking in heels," Andrews wrote in a Twitter post at the time.

Fans speculated over the reasons that caused Andrews and Bergeron to exit from DWTS, and ABC announced shortly after that Tyra Banks would be taking over as the show's only host, as well as an executive producer. Many signs point to a decrease in viewership as being the motivating factor behind the switch-up, with Season 28 of "Dancing with the Stars" seeing its lowest ratings yet.

"It was a surprise. I got a phone call and I answered the phone. I was like, 'This isn't good,'" Andrews told Extra a couple months after learning that she had been fired. However, the former host shared her support for Banks' success in the role, especially considering her prior hosting gigs, adding, "She can nail the smizing and the walking in gowns and heels, so good for her."

Unfortunately, there are some hazards that come with Erin Andrews' job as a sideline reporter. While on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" in April 2021, she told the story of how she was injured at a Major League Baseball Game. Andrews had been standing near third base when a player hit a line drive, meaning the ball was sent straight across the diamond, and it hit her in the face, creating a huge bruise.

"There was nothing that broke where the ball was coming. The security guard that was with me actually ducked when it came my way," she explained. Andrews demonstrated how she tried to move out of the way in time, but the baseball, as she put it, "Smacked me, clear as day, in the mouth." An image of her injury was shared on the show briefly, and while it looked incredibly painful, Andrews assured the audience that, amazingly, nothing broke. "I was fine. Doctor said I had a jaw of steel," she quipped. Perhaps this is why the reporter tends to stick to NFL games these days.

Traveling all over the country to cover different games might sound like a dream job for some, but it almost came at a frightening cost for Erin Andrews in September of 2022. During an episode of her podcast "Calm Down," she told co-host Charissa Thompson about a near-death experience she'd had just a couple weeks prior.

Andrews explained that she had hired a car service to take her from Chicago to Green Bay, Wisconsin for a football game, roughly a three-hour drive. The reporter had a conference call scheduled, and despite a couple hiccups, she thought she was ready to embark on a smooth ride. "I'm typing, headphones are working, we're good. I hear snoring. ... It's my driver who fell asleep at the wheel," she said incredulously. Andrews' driver had completely fallen asleep going 65 miles per hour on the highway while she was on her Zoom call, so she muted herself and woke him up.

"It was awful," she continued. "So now ... I'm trying to take notes. I have full-blown anxiety. This is not the way I want to go down. This is not the way I want to die." For the entire journey, Andrews was on high alert, constantly making noises to assess whether her driver was still awake. She even bought him a coffee at one point, but he didn't drink it, leaving her feeling even more concerned until she thankfully arrived in one piece.

While Erin Andrews has certainly endured a lot, she has at least been able to lean on her husband, Jarret Stoll, a retired professional hockey player, through it all. They first met in 2012, and five years later, they tied the knot. Sadly, throughout nearly their entire relationship, Andrews dealt with fertility issues. The couple finally welcomed their son Mack to the world in July 2023 via surrogate, and it became an opportunity for the sideline reporter to share her tragic experience with the public.

Around this time, Andrews sat down with Glamour and told them her story. She started freezing her eggs at age 35 because she was unsure about when she would be able to have kids, given that her career had always been the most important part of her life. After Andrews was diagnosed with cervical cancer, the oncologist recommended that she freeze more of her eggs, but she was struggling to produce them. She and her husband decided to try IVF, but after eight treatments, Andrews was miserable, saying, "I lost hair. My skin was never the same. My body's never really been the same."

After several years, they decided to go through a surrogate. Sadly, Andrews and her husband experienced two losses in the process. "That was really, really hard. It was awful," she remarked. However, the sports couple finally hit the jackpot when their third surrogate became pregnant, and eventually delivered their baby boy.

When the first week of the NFL season kicked off, Erin Andrews was there on the sidelines, giving her report on Fox Sports, along with Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brad. The Cowboys crushed the Browns in what was an exciting first game of the season, but sadly, the reporter was quietly struggling. It is hard to imagine Andrews scrambling on the field, but what fans didn't know is she had been dealing with "personal struggles" that week.

While speaking on a September 2024 episode of "Calm Down," the reporter shared with her co-host, "It was a lot because it's Week 1 and ... I have a lot going on. For some reason, I didn't feel like Stella had her groove. I will tell you this, I was really struggling in the confidence area of the show." Andrews went on to explain that she was also having a hard time sleeping for a couple days before kickoff. "Not because of doing the broadcast, but you know, just dealing with a lot of stuff going on with the baby," she explained.

Andrews mentioned that she had even been off her game during a rehearsal with her Fox cast, saying, "I completely butchered the s*** out of my open." The sideline reporter attempted to crack a joke with Brady, telling him that he wasn't the only one who had a hard time sometimes, as he was a relatively new addition to the team.