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New David Letterman bio offers more on 2009 sex scandal

By Shea Corrigan

NEW YORK - MAY 20: David Letterman and Paul Shaffer after the final taping of the Late Show with David Letterman, Wednesday May 20, 2015 on the CBS Television Network. After 33 years in late night television, 6,028 broadcasts, nearly 20,000 total guest appearances, 16 Emmy Awards and more than 4,600 career Top Ten Lists, David Letterman says goodbye to late night television audiences. The show was taped Wednesday at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York. (Photo by Jeffrey R. Staab/CBS via Getty Images)
NEW YORK - MAY 20: David Letterman and Paul Shaffer after the final taping of the Late Show with David Letterman, Wednesday May 20, 2015 on the CBS Television Network. After 33 years in late night television, 6,028 broadcasts, nearly 20,000 total guest appearances, 16 Emmy Awards and more than 4,600 career Top Ten Lists, David Letterman says goodbye to late night television audiences. The show was taped Wednesday at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York. (Photo by Jeffrey R. Staab/CBS via Getty Images) /
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David Letterman, long-time host of the Late Show and one-time face of late night, retired last spring and a new biography sheds light on his reign – including the sex scandal that turned his life to hell.

Written by New York Times comedy critic Jason Zinoman, Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night covers the host’s three decades in the business, with personal stories, idiosyncratic fan notes and observations of just how much pop culture has changed in 30 years. It also provides stark insight behind the scenes of Letterman’s 2009 sex scandal.

Letterman has never been particularly shy about revisiting the scandal. The subject was a staple of his retirement interviews and profiles, he even told the New York Times he should have been fired. But, as reported by People, Zinoman delves a little deeper into the immediate and mental aftermath.

On an episode of the Late Show, aired October 1, 2009, Letterman used his monologue to tell the story of his extortion and, by way of this, confessed to having “sex with women who work for me on this show.” Specifically, though not articulated as such, Letterman was having an affair with his assistant, Stephanie Birkitt. It was her ex-boyfriend, Robert “Joe” Halderman, a CBS producer, who tried to blackmail the Late Show host.

Zinoman describes a meeting before the show, between Letterman and his writer Steve Young, during which they wrote the monologue. Per Zinoman, Letterman told Young, “I’m in hell. I will always be in hell until the day after, when I will go to hell.”

You can watch the monologue – the confession comes at the 8:00 mark – below.

Despite the light and humorous tone – Letterman shrugs off the confession and the audience claps and laughs – the host organized a “postmortem” with his staffers after the show. There were rumors at the time so, according to Zinoman, some of Letterman’s staff knew and some suspected. Others were just as in the dark as Letterman’s family. The meeting was, according to Zinoman, the host’s way “to cope with and avoid his personal life.”

In the biography, Letterman compares the fear of losing his wife and son to having your family killed in a car crash. In his 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, he expressed gratitude that his wife had stayed and anticipated the talk he would have with his son, Harry, then 11, one day.

Speaking to the New York Times  around the same time, Letterman explained that he probably should have been fired, acknowledging the gravity of what he had done.

"Looking at it now, yes, I think they would have had good reason to fire me. But at the time, I was largely ignorant as to what, really, I had done. It just seemed like, O.K., well, here’s somebody who had an intimate relationship with somebody he shouldn’t have had an intimate relationship with. And I always said, “Well, who hasn’t?” to myself. But then, when I was able to see from the epicenter, the ripples, I thought, yeah, they could have fired me. But they didn’t. So I owe them that."

must read: Biggest SNL Scandals and Secrets

The biography, out today, covers much more than just the legendary late night host’s extracurricular and extramarital activities. But, if past interviews are any indication, the subject remains one of fascination for fans and critics alike.

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