During Thursday's night's show, David Letterman revealed that he's had sexual relationships with members of his female staff, and that a 48 Hours employee who knew about the relationships tried to extort $2 million from Letterman to keep his silence.
Letterman told his studio audience that about three weeks ago he got into his car at 6 a.m. and discovered a package that contained a letter from a man who threatened to write a screenplay about "every terrible thing you've ever done in your life." Instead of paying the person, Letterman notified the Manhattan District Attorney, who advised him to give the extortionist a false check that would lead to his arrest.
"This morning, I did something I've never done in my life," Letterman told audience members. "I had to go downtown and testify before a grand jury."
In his testimony, he acknowledged having sex with members of his staff. "My response to that is: Yes, I have," Letterman said on camera. "Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would."
CBS issued a statement saying that the 48 Hours employee was arrested on Thursday on first degree attempted grand larceny.
Letterman and his girlfriend Regina Lasko married in March 2009, and their son, Harry, was born in 2003.