Erin Andrews is preparing to return to NFL sideline reporting less than eight weeks after welcoming her baby boy, who won’t be joining her in the crowds.
“I got a question [asking] would I take Mack on the road. … Here’s my thing: No,” Andrews, 45, said during an episode of her “Calm Down” podcast earlier this month, speaking to cohost Charissa Thompson. “Our life on the road is crazy. Half the time it’s red-eyes [and] 6 a.m. flights, which means you have to be up at 4. And then I said to you, ‘What am I supposed to do? Then, put this kid on the sidelines, put him in the booth and take photos?’ No.”
She continued: “What am I supposed to do? [Say,] ‘Hey Kyle Shanahan, I know you run fast. Can you hold my baby while I write this down and run with you?’ No, he’s not coming on the road.”
Thompson, 41, lamented about the double standard, noting a father who “works at [the] Enterprise” car rental agency would not be expected to bring his newborn baby to the lot. “They don’t. This is a place of employment, [and] we’re not bringing our kids to work,” she quipped. “You got one day to bring your kid to work day — it’s a holiday [and] I used to go with my grandpa because even dad was like, ‘You ain’t coming to work with me.’
Andrews then clarified that since she works on both Thanksgiving and Christmas during the NFL season, Mack — whom she shares with husband Jarret Stoll — will be “staying home.”
“’Hey Fred Warner and Trent Williams, can I talk to you really quick about the adjustments you need to [make] this week? Hold on, my kid just puked on me. Here, hold him, Trent, you love kids,’” Andrews added, speculating what it would look like with Mack on the sidelines. “I don’t know if he does. This won’t work out. ‘Deebo [real name Tyshun Samuel], you mind holding my kid?’”
Andrews and Stoll, 41, confirmed last month that they welcomed their first baby via surrogate on June 28. The twosome, who have been married since 2017, previously navigated years of fertility struggles and failed IVF cycles.
“It’s not easy. It’s been one of the most challenging things in my life, and I know in my husband’s life as well,” the former Dancing With the Stars cohost exclusively told Us Weekly in January. “I’m doing OK. We’re doing well.”
Andrews continued at the time: “I know for a while my husband was like, ‘Why do you have to be so open about it?’ But once you are, you realize so many people are dealing with the same thing. … If I can give comfort to other people and bring things up in a discussion where people feel a little easier about bringing it up or talking about it, maybe we could start support groups or foundations for it. It’s just nothing to be embarrassed about, especially when so many people are going through it.”
Since welcoming Mack during the football offseason, Andrews is ready to get back into “a routine.”
“I need to not have excuses for why I’m in pajamas until noon,” she quipped during the Thursday, August 17, episode of her podcast, noting coming back home after vacation has motivated her.
