On a quiet September night in 2008, Erin Andrews checked into the Nashville Marriott to prepare for her weekend assignment covering a Vanderbilt football game. She had no reason to suspect that someone was already tracking her every move.
For the 30-year-old sports reporter, life was busy, public and focused on her work. What she didn’t know was that an obsessed stranger was about to shatter her sense of privacy — and that the fallout would spark a legal battle that made headlines for years.
Early Life and Career
By 2008, Erin Andrews was already a familiar face to sports fans. Born in Lewiston, Maine and raised with a love for athletics, she had turned her communications degree from the University of Florida into a fast-rising career.
ESPN had hired her in 2004 and her sideline interviews, baseball coverage and NFL reporting made her a recognizable — and approachable — figure on screen. Later, she would join FOX Sports and co-host Dancing with the Stars, but at the time, she was simply a reporter living out her dream job, the Variety reports.
Her schedule was grueling. Flights, hotels and new cities each week. Constant public exposure came with the territory — and Andrews accepted that. But no one could prepare for the kind of invasion she was about to face.
A Stalker in the Next Room
Michael David Barrett wasn’t famous. He was an insurance executive from Chicago with an unhealthy fixation on Andrews. According to prosecutors, he followed her to multiple cities, monitoring her appearances and movements. In Nashville, Barrett used charm and manipulation to get exactly what he wanted.
First, he called the hotel pretending to be connected to Andrews’ group. He asked if she had a reservation. The staff confirmed it. Then, he requested the room next to hers. They gave it to him — no questions asked.
Once inside, Barrett got to work. He removed the peephole from Andrews’ door with a hacksaw and replaced it with one that allowed him to see in while filming. He waited until she was in her room, undressed and recorded over four minutes of private footage.
That video would soon travel far beyond Nashville.
“This Is Me Naked”
The footage surfaced online and exploded across the internet. Millions watched it before Andrews even knew it existed. She learned about it from a friend, and the shock was immediate. In court, she recalled screaming so loudly in her hotel room that employees came to check on her.
Adding insult to injury, strangers and even some in the media speculated that she had released the video herself for attention, according to BBC. Andrews addressed that in emotional testimony: “This is me naked. Nobody knew that it was a stalker. Nobody knew that the Marriott had put him next to me. All we kept thinking as a family was, ‘This is me! Who did this to me and who let this happen?’”
Her father, who watched the footage with her and FBI agents, remembered her embarrassment vividly. She covered herself while it played and told him, “Dad, I’m going to puke.”
The trauma didn’t stop there. Soon after, a photographer climbed onto the balcony of her home. Andrews fled to her parents’ house, terrified that the nightmare wasn’t over.
Barrett was arrested in 2009. Facing federal charges, he admitted his “pretty ill-conceived plan” was to film Andrews and try to sell the footage after seeing she was trending online. He explained in his deposition that he used the hotel’s own restaurant phone to call the front desk so the room number would show up. Then, seeing a maid clean the space next to Andrews, he requested it.
He pleaded guilty to interstate stalking and tampering with a hotel peephole. A judge sentenced him to two and a half years in prison. Barrett accepted full responsibility but his confession didn’t erase the hotel’s role in giving him access.
The Lawsuit That Followed
Andrews wasn’t done seeking justice. In 2015, she filed a $75 million lawsuit against Barrett, West End Hotel Partners and Windsor Capital Group — the operators of the Nashville Marriott. The suit accused the hotel of negligence, arguing that staff had handed Barrett her room number and placed him next to her without warning.
The trial pulled back the curtain on hotel security flaws. Expert witnesses said the Marriott failed to follow standard safety measures, like never confirming guest information to outsiders and questioning suspicious requests for adjoining rooms.
A forensic psychologist testified that Andrews had post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic anxiety as a result of the stalking. Panic attacks became part of her daily life. Her mother took the stand and described the constant fear her daughter now lived with: “She’s always afraid someone’s going to touch her, to get to her… She lost control, and by golly, she’s going to show the world that she can still make a living and be passionate about what she loves, and I’m proud of her,” per ABC News.
The defense argued that the hotel met industry standards and that Barrett alone was responsible. Marriott International, as a franchisor, claimed it shouldn’t be held accountable for the actions of local staff.
$55 Million Verdict
In March 2016, the jury delivered its decision. They awarded Andrews $55 million — splitting responsibility at 51% for Barrett and 49% for the hotel operators. Marriott International was cleared of direct liability.
The damages were meant to compensate Andrews for emotional distress and the lifelong impact of the violation. The hotel companies appealed but eventually reached a confidential settlement with her.
The verdict sent shockwaves through the hospitality industry. Hotels around the country re-examined security procedures, staff training and policies for protecting guest information.
For Andrews, the case was about more than money. It was about holding people accountable — both the stalker and those who failed to protect her. She became an advocate for privacy rights and stalking victims, speaking publicly about the issue and using her platform to push for change, according to Sports Illustrated.
She also confronted the ugly reality of victim blaming. Instead of hiding from the public eye, she faced down critics, telling them and the court exactly what had happened. “I’ve been honored by all the support from victims around the world,” she said. “Their outreach has helped me be able to stand up and hold accountable those whose job it is to protect everyone’s safety, security and privacy.”
Life After the Case
Andrews went back to work, returning to NFL sidelines and television hosting duties. Outwardly, she appeared to move on. Inwardly, she admitted, the experience left her more guarded, especially in hotels. She checked rooms for security flaws, kept curtains drawn and never forgot what had been taken from her in those four and a half minutes of stolen footage.
Michael David Barrett served his sentence and faded from public view. But the legal and cultural impact of what he did remains. The Erin Andrews case became a landmark example of how stalking and privacy invasion can collide with corporate negligence — and how the law can be used to demand accountability.
