Erin Andrews: ESPN forced me to discuss my stalker on TV

On Monday, Erin Andrews said in court that ESPN pressured her into going onto a national talk show to discuss the stalker who leaked nude footage of her online in 2009 -- making it clear that Andrews had to do the interview if she wanted to return to her job as a college football sideline reporter. 

Testifying during her suit against a hotel company and the stalker, Andrews told jurors that discussing her ordeal on TV was "the only way I was going to be allowed back" on air. 

In 2008, a man named Michael David Barrett used a peephole to record video of Andrews changing clothes at Marriott hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. The video was posted online in July 2009; it was widely seen, and widely covered by the media. Barrett was later sentenced to 30 months in prison. 

Andrews is now suing Barrett, the Nashville Marriott and others for $75 million in damages. It was during this trial that she testified on the stand that ESPN forced her to do a national interview after the footage leaked. 

To be clear: Andrews is alleging that ESPN forced her to discuss her stalker in a public forum, requiring her to undergo a major violation of her privacy if she wanted to continue doing her job. Essentially, it sounds like she was required to publicly explain herself for a situation in which she was the victim. 

"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 testified Monday. "And that was the only way I was going to be allowed back."

Andrews said she was encouraged to do the sit-down interview on Good Morning America, because ABC and ESPN are both owned by Disney. But she didn't feel her experience would be treated with due compassion on GMA.

"I didn't want this to be a two-second thing where it's like, 'Was this a scandal, or was it not?'" Andrews testified Monday. "No, this is my life. And I feel terrible about myself, and we want to figure out how this happened. 

"So, I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to be a part of it, and I just said, 'You know what? I know, because she's very public about it, Oprah is a crime victim.' I talked to her producers; I told her I didn't want to do it. But was the only way I was going to be put back on air, so went to the Oprah show." 

Andrews left ESPN in 2012 and is now a host for college football coverage on Fox. 

An ESPN spokesman told Mashable the company stood by Andrews then and continues to now.

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