Journalist Lisa Guerrero said she was reporting live backstage on “Monday Night Football” in 2003 when she felt an intense pain in her stomach midway through the broadcast.
“When I felt wetness between my legs, I thought, ‘Oh, I have my period.’ And then I remembered that I was pregnant. She was having a miscarriage,” Guerrero wrote in an excerpt People obtained from her memoir, “Warrior,” released Jan. 24.
Guerrero opens up about the “negativity and cruelty” he experienced during his stint behind the scenes at “MNF” in his new book. But Guerrero said his experience was worse than anyone imagined.
“I could feel blood leaking. The officers’ bathroom was in the tunnel behind me,” Guerrero recalled, adding that he told his assistant he was going to the bathroom. “‘He looked at me like I was crazy. ‘They’re about to shoot you.'”
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Guerrero said he faced heavy bullying from the public, who criticized everything from his clothes to his posture, including his “MNF” executive producer, Freddie Gaudelli. With that in mind, Guerrero said he continued with his report despite his medical emergency.
“I turned in my live report. I got dizzy and nauseous, but I remembered to stand up,” Guerrero recalled. “During our Wednesday phone calls, Freddie would criticize me for poor posture. The pain was excruciating. I heard myself mispronounce a player’s name and knew I would hear about it later. As soon as I was done, I rushed off to interview a coach. So I went to the bathroom.”
Full excerpt from Guerrero:
“As I sat on the toilet, I couldn’t believe the blood coming out of me. It had soaked through my pants. I stuffed a bunch of paper towels in my underwear. It never occurred to me to tell anyone. It never occurred to me that maybe I should have gone to a hospital or at least sit out the rest of the game. The only thought that crossed my mind was that I could spend the rest of the game as long as I buttoned up my long winter coat. That way, no one would see the blood. It was like I was on autopilot. Go back to the sideline. Interview the coach. Listen to Freddie’s instructions.”
When the game was over, I was supposed to go to the production truck to talk to Freddie. Instead, I got on the plane. in the bathroom [on board], I changed clothes and threw my underwear and pants in the trash can. I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize the pale, thin, scared and very tired woman staring back at me.”
In an interview with People, Guerrero said her miscarriage was not caused by a person or a negative comment. “It was the culmination of the whole season of negativity and cruelty. It was really cruel,” she said. But these reasons contributed to her decision not to share her miscarriage publicly.
“People who knew what was going on with Freddie and who read how I was being treated in the media were already looking at me with pity,” Guerrero said. “I was a shell of myself. And I felt so ashamed and embarrassed that the last thing I was going to say is, ‘Oh, and by the way, I just had a miscarriage.’ Most of my best friends will learn about it by reading the book.”
In a statement to the New York Post, Gaudelli said that “Guerrero’s memory of that season and mine are quite different”.
“I’ve always tried to be Lisa’s biggest advocate, from the moment I hired her,” he told The Post. “This is the first time I am aware of her pregnancy and I am sorry that she has struggled through this difficult time without the full support of the team that surrounded her.”
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