David Letterman admits to having affairs with colleagues
On October 1, 2009, the levity of David Letterman's usual program disappeared when the talk show host told viewers that he was the victim of an attempted blackmailing scam. Behind the scenes, someone had threatened to reveal a series of covert affairs with female coworkers unless Letterman doled out $2 million.
Letterman confessed on-air that he had been having multiple affairs with several of the women with whom he worked. Instead of complying with his demands, Letterman worked with police to arrest producer Joe Halderman, the blackmailer, on charges of larceny. Due to Letterman's decision to get ahead of the scandal, his career remained largely unaffected.