Erin Andrews’ father Steve opened up about how his daughter managed to stay strong and resilient in the face of cancer, privacy issues and a miscarriage.
Erin Andrews’ father Steve pulled back the curtain on the myriad obstacles his daughter overcame in a heartwarming on-air tribute.
Since becoming a household name through her broadcast work for ESPN and FOX Sports, Andrews has battled cancer, privacy issues, and a miscarriage, all while being in the public eye.
During his appearance on TODAY with Jenna & Friends in August, Steve highlighted Andrews’ incredible resilience in the face of life’s challenges. In 2008, a stalker named Michael David Barrett secretly filmed Andrews multiple times through a peephole as she undressed in her room at hotels in Nashville and Columbus.
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“The whole stalking incident was just emotionally devastating for her,” Steve admitted. “It was terrifying because we didn’t know who it was, how it happened, if she was safe. That was the big question.
“Her sister called me a day or two after it happened. And she asked me, ‘Is she okay, is she safe, Dad?’ You try to get out of it.
After admitting to tampering with peepholes while testifying in a civil trial, Barrett was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for interstate stalking. Andrews, meanwhile, was awarded $55 million following a 2016 lawsuit filed against him and the companies that managed the Nashville Marriott hotel where she was registered.
Later that year, Andrews faced another challenge when a routine annual exam revealed she had cervical cancer. “She was at our house and she got a phone call from her doctor and the doctor told her she had an abnormal test result. And she was a little panicked,” Steve recalled.
“My wife and I said, ‘Don’t worry, it’s not unusual. Go back, you’ll take another test. You’ll be fine.’ And so she came back and she took another test. It was scary, listen, to hear your child on the phone calling you and saying, “I have cancer.”
I mean, I wanted to cry. I was heartbroken. You have conversations with your God. As a father, I just said, “Let her be okay.” Take me, let her be okay. So it was difficult.
Andrews then underwent two surgeries to remove the cancer cells, the second of which was a resounding success. “After the procedure, the doctor said, ‘I want you to take it easy. Stay in bed for the next four or five days,'” Steve added. “And she says, ‘No, I can’t do that. I have a game this weekend. It’s in Green Bay. The Cowboys are playing the Packers.’
“And so I thought she was a little crazy, but oh well. After the Green Bay game, I got a phone call from Erin and she said, ‘They got it. I don’t have cancer anymore.” And I, you know, it was just such a relief.
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Then, in 2023, Andrews experienced “10 years of hell” trying to conceive naturally before her surrogate suffered a miscarriage while she and her husband, Jarret Stoll, were trying to have their first child, Mack.
“She might be able to conceive, but there’s no way she could carry a baby,” Steve said. “That’s when they thought: OK, let’s use surrogacy. Within a few weeks, she had a miscarriage.
“We were heartbroken for them. And then later they tried again. You know, she called us and said, ‘Do you want to come out?’
