Letterman apologizes on show to wife

NEW YORK, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. talk-show host David Letterman apologized to his wife on Monday's "Late Show with David Letterman" for the sex scandal he confessed to last week.

Letterman admitted on the show Thursday he has had sex with female employees of the show. The on-air revelation came after he testified before a grand jury that a man threatened to release the information to the public if Letterman did not pay him $2 million.

A CBS News producer, Robert Halderman, was arrested and charged in the alleged extortion plot. He pleaded innocent and was released on bail.

At Monday's taping of the show, Letterman apologized to both his staff and wife for his indiscretions, CBS said in a statement.

"I'm terribly sorry that I put the staff in that position," he said. "Inadvertently, I just wasn't thinking ahead. And, moreover, the staff here has been wonderfully supportive to me, not just through this furor, but through all the years that we've been on television and especially all the years here at CBS, so, again, my thanks to the staff for, once again, putting up with something stupid I've gotten myself involved in."

He said his wife, Regina Lasko, "has been horribly hurt by my behavior, and when something happens like that, if you hurt a person and it's your responsibility, you try to fix it."

"And at that point, there's only two things that can happen: either you're going to make some progress and get it fixed, or you're going to fall short and perhaps not get it fixed, so let me tell you folks, I got my work cut out for me."

Letterman married Lasko, the mother of his 6-year-old son, in March after dating her for more than 20 years.