Letterman on Oprah: Talk Show Host Opens Up on Sex Scandal (VIDEO)
David Letterman has appeared on Oprah to talk about the 2009 sex scandal that threatened to derail his career.
Letterman joined Oprah Winfrey to open up about the difficult period in his life in an interview set to be broadcast on Sunday. However, his description of the scandal will surprise many, as he had a surprisingly positive spin on the ordeal.
The late night chat show host spoke in depth about what he feels are the affects of infidelity as well as the blackmail attempts made on his marriage. Letterman on the whole was not shy about talking about the ordeal, and was open about the responsibility he feels he has to take as to what happened.
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Letterman was speaking about the incident in 2009 when a series of incidents saw him linked to a sex scandal involving employees working on his chat show. The host was forced to speak out about the allegations being made on air as the pressure increased on him and as the scandal blew up bigger with more publicity.
However, speaking in a very philosophical way, Letterman explained to Oprah that the entire incident allowed him to re-evaluate many things in his life. Ultimately he reflected that his relationship was able to move to a new level because of the scandal, and his own self-esteem is also now better due to the ordeal.
Letterman said to Oprah, "I feel better about myself, my relationship with my wife is never better, and it's just because I want to be the person I thought I was and probably was pretending I was … I hurt a lot of people, I have no one to blame but myself."
The entire incident climaxed when a former CBS employee was convicted of attempting to blackmail Letterman. The employee was alleged to have demanded that Letterman pay $2 million or else have his alleged infidelities made public through a screenplay and a book.
However, Letterman was not fazed by the threats and went to the authorities. The ultimate sting operation allowed the employee to be caught blackmailing the late night talk show host, and the employee eventually pleaded guilty and served a 6 month jail sentence.
David Letterman's interview with Oprah will air on OWN's Oprah's Next Chapter on Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET.
Here is a short preview video of David Letterman's interview with Oprah:
