ESPN star Erin Andrews breaks down in TEARS as she opens up about her traumatic experience with a STALKER – and the moment she discovered he’d secretly filmed her in a hotel room and shared the intimate footage online

Sports broadcaster Erin Andrews broke down in tears as she recounted her hellish experience with a stalker – and the heartbreaking moment she had to tell her parents he had secretly recorded nude footage of her.

Throughout 2008 and 2009, a man named Michael David Barrett followed Erin, now 45, around the world, booking hotel rooms next to hers and recording secret, intimate videos of the TV personality through the keyhole.

He then uploaded the clips to the internet, which eventually landed him in jail and led to Erin suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Now, the star has spoken out about the horrific ordeal during a recent meeting with Today show host Hoda Kotb in front of her Making room podcast.

Throughout 2008 and 2009, a man named Michael David Barrett followed Erin, now 45, around the world, booking hotel rooms next to hers and recording secret videos of her through a keyhole.

He then uploaded the clips to the internet, which eventually landed him in jail and led to Erin suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Erin is seen at the trial in 2010

Now the star has spoken out about the horrific ordeal during a recent meeting with Today show host Hoda Kotb for her Making Space podcast

During their conversation, Erin explained that when the images first appeared online, many thought she had voluntarily shared it herself.

‘People thought it was a scandal, but in high school I was on the playground. I don’t do those things,” she explained.

She recalled that she first found out about it after a friend called her and told her, and at first she thought it was fake.

Erin said she called her parents immediately after watching the video – and she was so emotional her dad thought she had been in an accident

“He said, ‘There’s a video.’ “I said, ‘No, there isn’t, I don’t do that kind of thing.’ I’m single, I don’t even have that in my life,” she revealed. “And he said, ‘Erin, it’s you.'”

Erin said she called her parents immediately after watching the video – and she was so emotional that her father thought she had been in an accident.

As her eyes welled up, she said to Hoda, “My dad says he thought I was in a car accident because I was just screaming.”

In the aftermath, Erin said she had a hard time coming to terms with what happened, and now looking back, she is so grateful that her “incredible” parents stuck by her side.

‘I feel so bad, my parents were just unbelievable. “I was in my 30s when that happened and I resorted to acting like a 15-year-old in the sense that I didn’t want to deal with it,” she admitted. “But my parents really led the way.”

She told Hoda as her eyes welled up, “My dad says he thought I was in a car accident because I was just screaming.”

Erin (seen with her sister and parents) said she was having a hard time coming to terms with what happened, and is so grateful her ‘incredible’ parents were by her side

Michael, a former insurance salesman from Illinois, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to a number of stalking charges in 2009. He was released in 2012.

Michael, a former insurance salesman from Illinois, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to a number of stalking charges in 2009.

At trial, he admitted that he rented hotel rooms next to hers on three separate occasions, and twice adjusted the hotel’s peepholes and took videos of her with his cell phone – once in Columbus, Ohio, in February 2008 and again seven months later. in Nashville, Tenn.

Prosecutors accused him of contacting a total of fourteen hotels to obtain information about Erin’s reservations.

It was also revealed during the trial that he tried to sell the footage to TMZ, but the publication denied it.

He then posted the videos himself online, where they quickly went viral and were viewed more than 17 million times.

Originally from Lewiston, Maine, Erin rose to fame in 2004 after becoming an ESPN correspondent, where she worked for eight years before moving to Fox Sports. She is also known for co-hosting Dancing with the Stars from 2014 to 2019.

Erin subsequently sued the Marriott hotel for negligence, infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy in 2016, and was awarded $55 million in damages in 2016.

Michael was released from prison in 2012 after twenty months behind bars. Erin then sued the Nashville Marriott hotel and several other defendants for negligence, infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy in 2016, asking for $75 million in damages.

Her lawsuit alleged that hotel management confirmed to Michael where she was staying, disclosed her room number without permission, and then allowed the stalker into adjacent rooms.

As she took the stand, Erin, sobbing, continued to talk about her first reaction to seeing the images.

She said she was so upset that the hotel she was staying at called to check on her because someone was concerned she was getting into trouble after they heard her screaming on the phone while talking to her parents.

She also revealed that she threw up when FBI agents gave her another look before the trial. She received $55 million in 2016 as a result of the lawsuit.