Erin Andrews 'nervous' about Oscars gig
TV Personality Erin Andrews poses with Motorola Xoom at the Maxim Party Powered by Motorola Xoom at Centennial Hall at Fair Park. (Feb. 5, 2011) Credit: Getty Images
Erin Andrews' alarm clock went off at about 2:54 a.m. Hollywood time Friday, an image she soon was sharing with her 357,000-plus Twitter followers.
Then it was off to the red carpet for a live report previewing the Academy Awards for "Good Morning America'' and a recorded piece in which she sampled backless gowns, priceless jewelry and other Oscars-related excesses.
Big Ten football in November it was not.
Andrews said that struck home during a segment with jeweler-to-the-stars Lorraine Schwartz.
"She is showing me jewels Beyoncé and Heidi Klum and Blake Lively have worn and they're millions of dollars and I'm like, 'What am I doing here?' '' Andrews said.
"There are times I'm obviously very out of my element.''
So it has been for Andrews, who in the 19 months since being shattered by a surreptitiously obtained video of her has been exploring media life beyond sports.
It began with a long run on "Dancing With the Stars'' last spring and has expanded further under a new contract with ESPN that allows for work such as contributing to "Good Morning America'' on ABC, an ESPN sister network.
The biggest moment to date comes Sunday, when Andrews will cover the Oscars by working the red carpet and interviewing winners for GMA.
"I'm really, really nervous for Sunday,'' she said. "I was talking to a couple of my buddies who are in the NFL and I was like, 'I'm really nervous.' They were, like, 'Why?'
"I said, 'I know you guys. I can talk to you guys. These people, they don't know me. I'm really out of my comfort zone.' It's kind of cool to feel that way.''
Until the summer of 2009, Andrews strictly was a sports phenomenon, known for her work as an ESPN sideline reporter and as a two-time winner of Playboy's America's Sexiest Sportscaster poll.
That changed when video of her nude in a hotel room hit the Internet, prompting an investigation that eventually led to a Chicago-area man receiving a 27-month prison sentence for interstate stalking.
Andrews, 32, since has become an advocate for stronger anti-stalking laws.
"I almost got into a phase where I stopped crying and I just got really ticked off,'' she said. "I'm ticked off this happened and ticked off it's allowed to happen.
"That is my motivation to again visit Capitol Hill this summer and talk to lawmakers and strengthening these laws and creating new laws.''
The passage of time has not dulled Andrews' anger, including at one blog for widely disseminating the video when others declined to do so.
She would not name the site, but she was referring to Deadspin.com when she said, "One blog thought it would be hilarious to put it up and didn't think there was anything criminal.
"He absolutely devastated my family. My voice shakes when I say this. My eyes well up with tears. That blog has no idea what they did to my family that weekend.''
Despite the personal toll, Andrews has moved on professionally, still working many big college football and basketball games, even as she adds to her portfolio.
She finished third with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy on "Dancing With the Stars'' and now will be chatting with the stars on the biggest night in American show business.
" 'Dancing With the Stars' really opened my eyes to different things to try, not so much entertainment but just different ways to branch out a little bit,'' she said.
After basketball season, she hopes to start focusing on other priorities, such as moving from Atlanta to New York and "trying to have a family someday.''
"I've really tried to cut down on my schedule to, for once in my life, have a life, and I'm really kind of hoping I get to do that this summer,'' she said.
"But it's not in my gene pool or my personality to slow down.''
