Letterman On Oprah: Sex Scandal Improved My Marriage

David Letterman spoke candidly to Oprah Winfrey about his 2009 sex scandal in an interview set to air Sunday, but the late-night chat-show host has a surprisingly positive spin on the effects of infidelity and a subsequent blackmail attempt on his marriage.

On Oprah’s show, Letterman openly discusses his former issues with marital fidelity with his fellow talk-show peer, but he doesn’t shy away from responsibility in the whole mess.

Back in 2009, Letterman found himself on the business end of a brewing sex scandal involving Late Show employees, forcing the host to address the embarrassing allegations on air as the controversy developed.

But as bad as it seemed then, Letterman says, the situation allowed him to re-evaluate a lot of his life, and now says that his relationship and self-esteem are ultimately the better for it.

Dishing to Oprah, Letterman says:

“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.”

A former CBS employee was ultimately convicted of blackmailing Letterman, as ABC recounts:

“According to Letterman’s account, Halderman had left a package in his car with materials inside suggesting he would write a screenplay and book about Letterman’s infidelities if the comedian failed to pay $2 million … Letterman instead went to the police, and a sting operation was mounted. Halderman later pled guilty and served a six-month jail sentence for the blackmail attempt.”

You can see Letterman on OWN’s Oprah’s Next Chapter, Sunday night at 9 PM.