David Letterman Admits to Oprah Winfrey That Sex Scandal 'Hurt a Lot of People' (Video)

OWN

David Letterman granted a rare interview to Oprah Winfrey, and you can bet the two talk show titans -- who have managed to put their bad blood behind them -- tackled the topic of the Late Show host's embarrassing sex scandal.

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And "sex scandal" is exactly the term Letterman, 65, uses to describe a string of affairs he'd had with several Late Show interns -- both before and after marrying Regina Lasko, his longtime girlfriend and mother to his son, Harry.

"You want to get through your whole life and not have the word 'sex scandal' attached to your name," Winfrey says.

"I have no one to blame but myself," Letterman replies, but spins the experience towards the positive: "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," he concedes.

Letterman's original admission, made during a stunning statement on air on Oct. 1, 2009, came in response to an extortion attempt by Robert Halderman, a then-producer on CBS's 48 Hours.

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.

Watch Oprah's interview with Letterman on OWN's Oprah's Next Chapter, Sunday, January 6, at 9 p.m.