Erin Andrews: Stalker Video Affects Her Daily

Erin Andrews (AP Photo)

NASHVILLE (Reuters) -- Sports broadcaster Erin Andrews told a Tennessee jury on Tuesday that a 2008 nude video of her taken by a stalker that was posted on the Internet affects her every day, including making her so cautious that she checks for cameras in hotel air conditioners.

Andrews, a former ESPN sportscaster who has since moved to Fox Sports, has sued the Marriott Nashville at Vanderbilt University for $75 million over the 2008 incident, in which a man in a neighboring room, Michael David Barrett, rigged a peephole and shot the video of Andrews changing.

The 37-year-old Andrews, who also has appeared on the "Dancing with the Stars," television show, was staying at the hotel while covering a Vanderbilt football game.

Over two days of testimony, Andrews said she has experienced depression, spells of crying and sleeplessness since the video went viral in 2009. She said she receives comments about the video "every single day" on her Instagram account, with people joking that she should pay Marriott and Barrett for the publicity.

Andrews has blamed former hotel employees for giving out her room number, which led to Barrett booking the room next door.

She said on Tuesday she now always checks for cameras and covers peepholes in hotel rooms.



Andrews said she still loves walking around a football stadium during a game, but when she walks by fans, she always thinks "My God, everybody in the stadium has seen that video now."

Andrews told jurors that what hurts her most is when high school and college girls contact her and say, "I want to be Erin Andrews, except for the Marriott stalker thing."

Marc Dedman, an attorney for the hotel, said the blame rests solely with Barrett, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to stalking Andrews and shooting the video and was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Andrews testified this week that her former employer, sports giant ESPN, forced her to give a national television interview about secretly recorded nude videos before she could return to work.

Josh Krulewitz, vice president of communications for ESPN, said in a statement that the network was always supportive of Andrews.

"Developments in the case have been interpreted by some to mean that ESPN was unsupportive of Erin in the aftermath of her ordeal," Krulewitz said. "Nothing could be further from the truth. We have been and continue to be supportive of Erin."

Andrews, 37, did not know she was being recorded while changing clothes at a Nashville hotel before a Thursday night football game in 2008. The man who recorded the video, Michael Barrett, posted the videos to the Internet where they went viral. He was criminally charged and sentenced to 2½ years in prison.