Erin Andrews Reveals She Was Secretly Battling Cancer During 2016 NFL Season

Erin Andrews was diagnosed with cervical cancer during the NFL season and battled it without telling anyone.

Erin Andrews covers a playoff game for Fox.
USA Today Sports

Image via USA TODAY Sports/Matthew Emmons

Erin Andrews covers a playoff game for Fox.

At this point, most people are familiar with the lawsuit that Erin Andrews was involved in during the early part of 2016. She filed a $75 million suit against a man named Michael David Barrett who secretly videotaped her in the nude through a hotel peephole as well as the Marriott hotel in Tennessee that allowed it to happen. And she was eventually awarded more than $50 million at the end of her trial.

In a new feature that was published by MMQB on Tuesday, Andrews talks at length about that trial and the anguish that she has endured as a result of it. But she also talks about another battle that she was involved in at the end of 2016—one that featured her dealing with a cervical cancer diagnosis right in the middle of the current NFL season.

Andrews was diagnosed with cervical cancer while she was preparing for a Week 3 game between the Giants and Redskins in New York. But rather than drop everything and run home to seek treatment, she worked the game without telling anyone about the diagnosis, scheduled surgery for October 11, and was back at work less than a week later. She specifically told her oncologist that she wasn’t going to take any time off due to her diagnosis.

"I’m not watching any football games at home," she said, according to MMQB. "This is [Fox’s] Super Bowl year, and I’m not missing the Super Bowl."

She told MMQB why she went against her doctor’s wishes and stayed on the road for work, while simultaneously talking about how she used sports to deal with both her trial and her cancer diagnosis.

"Should I have been standing for a full game five days after surgery?" she said. "Let’s just say the doctor didn’t recommend that. But just as I felt during my trial, sports were my escape. I needed to be with my crew."

Andrews underwent one additional surgery related to her cancer diagnosis on November 1 before doctors declared her cancer-free.

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You can read Andrews’ entire MMQB feature here. It’s amazing to see how she has managed to deal with everything that has been thrown at her over the last few years.

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