David Letterman dropped a bombshell on Thursday by revealing he was the victim of an extortion attempt by Robert Joe Halderman, an employee of the CBS news program 48 Hours.
On the Late Night with David Letterman show Thursday, Letterman spilled details of an extortion plot by Joe Halderman to bilk $2 million from the late night talk show host in exchange for keeping quiet about Letterman’s sexual affairs. Not just affairs with random women, no, Letterman said he has “had sex with women who work on the show.â€
Robert J. Halderman threatened to go public with Letterman’s affairs with female staffers, including former assistant Stephanie Birkitt, and demanded $2 million to keep his mouth shut. Birkitt allegedly lived with Halderman and was reportedly instrumental in providing him with evidence in the extortion plot.
Just a note here, David Letterman just married Regina Lasko, his girlfriend of 20 years – and mother of his 6-year-old son – back in March. Letterman’s affairs with Birkitt and other female staffers were going on at least until 2002-2003 according to unverified reports. Ouch.
Letterman said he received a package three weeks ago from Robert Halderman containing proof of his sexual affairs and a note stating: “I know that you do some terrible, terrible things.” Letterman told his audience on the show Thursday night: “Sure enough, contained in the package was stuff to prove that I do terrible things.”
Instead of paying the $2 million bribe, however, Letterman went to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Letterman was reportedly instructed to write Halderman a fake check for the extortion amount. Once the fake money had exchanged hands, Halderman was arrested on charges of attempted grand larceny on Thursday.