'Dad, I'm naked all over the internet'

Erin Andrews has taken the stand in her US$75 million lawsuit against a hotel chain in connection with an eight-year-old hidden-camera video of her disrobing.

Through tears, Andrews recounted both the discovery of the video and the way ESPN required her to perform image rehabilitation.

Andrews has filed the suit against West End Hotel Partners, the owner of the Nashville hotel where she was recorded, and Michael David Barrett, the man convicted in 2009 of stalking her. Barrett, who took the room next to Andrews' and bored a hole in the wall to film her, served 2 1/2 years in prison for stalking.

Andrews recounted the first moments of discovery of the video once it hit the internet. "I grabbed my laptop and flipped it open," Andrews said, as reported by ET. "I saw it for two seconds and I was like, 'Oh my God!' and I shut it down and said, 'I have to call you back,' and I called my parents. I was just screaming that I was naked all over the Internet, and I didn't know what it was."

She indicated that she screamed so loud that her father, on the other end of a phone call, thought she had been in a car accident, while the hotel had to check to make sure she was not in danger.

She added that ESPN required her to do a public interview disavowing knowledge of the video's source. "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 us a sit-down interview,'" she said. "That was the only way I was going to be allowed back."

In the civil trial, jurors will consider whether West End Hotel Partners did enough to keep Andrews protected from Barrett's intrusion. Barrett had indicated in depositions earlier that he had recorded up to 10 other women nationwide.

Andrews said the videotape's existence had exacted a high price. "It's always there," she said. "It's always on my back. I can never get rid of it."

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