Breaking: David Letterman addresses affairs again on tonight’s show

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[Updated at 3:35 p.m.: In a clip from his monologue posted on CBS.com, a chagrined Letterman opened the show by noting his current unpopularity. ‘I’ll be honest with you folks,’ he said. ‘Right now, I would give anything to be hiking on the Appalachian Trail. I get in the car this morning and the navigation lady wasn’t speaking to me. Ouch.’]

‘Late Show’ host David Letterman spoke about his past relationships with female staffers again on tonight’s program, which taped this afternoon in midtown Manhattan. According to an audience member, Letterman said he didn’t want to talk again about his past affairs, but since “everybody wants to talk about it,” he would. He apologized to his staff, who he said were being hounded by questions from the media.

“I’m terribly sorry that I put the staff in that position,’ he said, according to a transcript provided by his production company. ‘Inadvertently, I just wasn’t thinking ahead. And, moreover, the staff here has been wonderfully supportive to me, not just through this furor, but through all the years that we’ve been on television and especially all the years here at CBS, so, again, my thanks to the staff for, once again, putting up with something stupid I’ve gotten myself involved in.’

Letterman also noted that he had hurt his wife, who he did not mention during his original admission last week.

“Now the other thing is my wife, Regina,’ he said. ‘She has been horribly hurt by my behavior, and when something happens like that, if you hurt a person and it’s your responsibility, you try to fix it. And at that point, there’s only two things that can happen: Either you’re going to make some progress and get it fixed, or you’re going to fall short and perhaps not get it fixed, so let me tell you folks, I got my work cut out for me.”

CBS plans to post clips from the comic’s monologue shortly on CBS.com. We’ll bring you the highlights.

-- Matea Gold and Geraldine Baum