Former Monday Night Football reporter Michele Tafoya has criticized Lisa Guerrero over the claims she’s made in her new book.
Guerrero, also formerly an MNF reporter, revealed she suffered a miscarriage while working a game in 2003 in a memoir titled Warrior, which was released on January 24. Guerrero described the ordeal, as well as the abuse she suffered while working at ESPN, in an interview with PEOPLE. She said that the job was so stressful, it caused her to miscarry right there on the air and she couldn’t speak to anyone about it.
“Miserable in that crucible of stress and self-doubt, Guerrero was let go from MNF after a single season,” an excerpt from the PEOPLE article reads. “But, as she reveals for the first time, she lost more than her job. Late in that season, at between eight and 12 weeks pregnant, Guerrero had a miscarriage while she was on-air in the middle of a game.”
Tafoya, who now works as a political advisor, has addressed the claims
Speaking on her Sideline Sanity podcast this week, the erstwhile ESPN personality said she was told by reputable sources that Guerrero was “an attention-seeking drama queen during her tenure on Monday Night Football.”
“Umm, I’ve had multiple miscarriages,” she added after reading a bit of the book. “I’ve talked very openly about my struggles to have a baby, about my adoption of my second child. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Losing a pregnancy between eight and 12 weeks is not uncommon. If it was such pain that she’s carried for 20 years, and her best friends still have to buy the book to learn about it? I see a disconnect there. It’s her story to tell, but having been through similar things, trust me when I tell you, my best friends knew.”
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“Trust me when I tell you that all my best friends know about that,” she continued. “I don’t know why you would wait to publish a book 15 years after the fact to reveal this to your best friends. And so, I have my hesitation about, was this truly a devastating miscarriage?”
Tafoya doesn’t seem to believe Guerrero’s claims but noted that she believes the former reporter’s motivations are not in the right place, also proclaiming Guerrero was not tough enough to handle the job.
“I think what she’s doing is wrong and I think that her motivations are not pure,” she concluded. “It’s a tough business and it’s what she signed up for. You either cut it or you can’t. I contend she wasn’t tough enough.”
Of course, there’s no way of knowing what’s really going on in Lisa’s mind. Tafoya is in a position to speak on the subject as she’s had four of her pregnancies end in miscarriages before she had her son. She and her husband Mark Vandersall also have an adopted daughter.
On the other hand, she can’t be correct in downplaying Lisa’s ordeal because she kept it to herself for 20 years. People deal with struggles in different ways. If putting her troubles in a book is her way of healing, who’s to say she’s wrong or misguided?
