- 21 minutes ago
- From the section US and Canada
Image copyright AP
US sports broadcaster Erin Andrews has told a jury that a nude video secretly taken of her by a stalker and posted online devastated her life.
The reporter was testifying as part of a $75m (£53m) suit against her stalker, Michael David Barrett, and a Nashville hotel where the video was recorded.Barrett, who spent more than two-and-a-half years in jail, has said the video was taken so he could make money.
The video was shot through a peephole in 2008 and went viral on the internet.
Ms Andrews, 37, a former ESPN reporter who has since joined Fox Sports, said the stalking left her fearful, anxious and depressed.
She told the jury that she had become so cautious that she checks for hidden cameras in hotel air conditioners and changes rooms fearful of being recorded.
"I felt embarrassed, humiliated, mortified because of the video," she said during a testimony in which she repeatedly broke down.
The broadcaster is suing Barrett and the operator of the Marriott at Vanderbilt University, where she was staying to cover a football game. She accuses the company of negligence for allowing someone like him to rent a room next to hers.
Barrett admitted to renting hotel rooms next to Ms Andrews and shooting videos of her.
'It ripped me apart'
Ms Andrews said one of the most difficult moments came when there was speculation that she had released the video herself to get attention."Everybody put up that I was doing it for publicity and attention and that ripped me apart," she said in tears.
In a video played in court, Barrett said the reason he picked Ms Andrews was because she was popular. The trial continues in Nashville.
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