For those of you that don't know:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20309725,00.html

David Letterman made a shocking confession on his CBS Late Show Thursday, admitting he was the victim of a $2 million extortion attempt – and that he had had sexual relations with female members of his staff.

He admitted to this on his show, and then later, he publically apologized to his wife, whom he was dating (since the 80s, I believe)  at the time of the transgressions.

Now there's an article that sort of makes me tilt my head:

Stars Stand By Letterman:

"Talk-show host Wendy Williams is also behind Letterman 100 percent. "I like him even more," she said. "He did a disgusting thing. But I thought it was really great that he came out and told his own story. The real crime is the blackmail."

"I don't see anything wrong with it," said Sandra Denton, better known as Pepa of Salt-n-Pepa. "I might have been one of the girls. He's a man ... and he's kind of cute!"

"I wasn't like, 'Oh, not Dave. It couldn't be!' " she said. "He had a relationship with somebody. What's the big deal? He wasn't married. He wasn't cheating on his wife." 
 

I'm sorry, is ANYONE ELSE uspet by this? HE WAS IN A RELATIONSHIP. He did her DIRTY, my friends. If she had KNOWN this then, would she still have married him?

I'm shocked anyone would brush what HE did under the rug.

UGH! It is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE that he has cheated on his wife! I CANNOT BELIEVE these women who commented said there is nothing wrong with it! ARGH! 

It makes me so angry how dishonesty is widely accepted in the world nowadays :( 

It rather upsets me -  on the one hand, I think the extortion and the media frenzy are just wrong.  On the other hand, I don't think it's no big deal, either.  I'm sure it's a very big deal to his wife.  I just feel kind of disturbed, like it's none of our business.  Like the wall fell off their bedroom and we're looking at them standing there naked. 

He cheated on his wife - who was his girlfriend at the time.

I hardly think the distinction makes a difference, but I want to keep facts straight: They were NOT married when he was doing it, but they HAVE been in a relationship for over 20-someodd years.

Is that what's throwing people off? The fact they weren't married? Are you kidding me?

And as you guys say, I'm disgusted that someone would think "Oh, hey, trying to extort him was the big deal" when he broke his trust to someone.

I'm sick of hearing about the sexual exploits of people in the public eye - politicians, actors, talk-show hosts, whatever, there is just some stuff I don't need to know about.  And I do feel very badly for his wife - it must suck to feel so publicly humiliated.  And from what he said on his show the other night, his marriage appears to be in big trouble.  No, I don't get people who think it's okay either - I don't think deceiving people you are supposed to be in a relationship with is ever okay.

I don't think it is okay either...but like Dorothy I'm like, really? The world needed to know where David Letterman put his dick? See, I'm not sleeping with him.

The thing that concerns me more than the morality of his cheating is the environment of the workplace when the man in power is bedding his female subordinates. I wouldn't like to work with that.  

I'll go out on a limb here and say I don't think he is going to get away with it. No one has noticed yet but the public is sick of seeing your pussy on tv. John Edwards, various other public figures with their tearful confessions and admissions... they are just not recovering from things like this anymore. That girl is young.... makes Letterman look like an old man. He looks like a jerk.. he's mocked others etc. etc. He's been on top a long time but I don't think he will stay there after this.  Retire him and bring someone who has not shamed themselves.

Don't get me wrong. I know this stuff is rampant but like I said, we (the public) are sick of seeing your exploits on TV. Decorum, okay? Discretion.  if you can't manage it the public is going to shoot you down. The way it has been is not the way it is now. I just don't think the public is going to want to hold a veil up when they look at him... it's too much trouble. Get us someone clean in here, ya know?

If you're so upset about your wife and your kid, how about you get off the late night TV and go take care of it, hmm? I hurt my kid and my wife but I am here on TV - Look at me!  I just don't think people are going to want to when it all shakes out.

David Letterman is an Aries so Pluto is squaring his Sun.

Intense!

I'm just horrified that someone, anyone had sex with David Letterman, eeeew.

Ahh, fuck Letterman, the gap toothed, cocky, cheatin' motherfucker.

(down on men today... that felt gooood).

"I'm just horrified that someone, anyone had sex with David Letterman, eeeew."

That is exactly what he is not going to be able to shake. We just don't want to know.

I don't know. I never watch his show, but if I did, I wouldn't stop watching over this. I just don't care what David Letterman does with his dick with other adults.

I mean, if I were personal friends with him, then I'd have some thinking to do. But in his relationship with me as a TV viewer, I don't see that he breached anything.

Going on TV and talking about it would be way too much information if it weren't for the fact that someone was extorting him. He took away that person's threat by exposing it himself.

Unless a public figure is a self-proclaimed morality cop, I don't care what they do in the bedroom with other consenting adults. It's a non-issue for me.

I don't really care that he cheated - that's between him and his wife. But I too am tired of things being aired on tv like i should care. And I think it wussy of him to fess up only when being blackmailed. He just comes across as a dirty old man. I'm into watching The Daily Show instead. John Stewart is awesome - sag with pluto in virgo - swoon. I never got into Letterman's humour.

Yes, Liz. Jon Stewart is truly awesome.

Another public figure getting caught with their pants down by Pluto in Capricorn. Won't be the last either.

I checked and found out David L has Mars at zero Aries (sq Cappy Moon at 9 degrees). When Saturn enters Libra, his Mars will be slammed by both Pluto and Saturn. There is a very good possibility he will be forced to retire . . .

Mel Gibson sure seems to skate. Got his DUI squashed today and was able to have a 30 year marriage annulled almost instantly after he got his mistress pregnant.

As of now he is the anomaly here.

I'm with Liz, sick of hearing about people cheatin, but Jon Stewart is awesome. :)

haha I was just talking with someone about hte Letterman's major lack of sex appeal

Cheating is a big deal to me - if you are with someone & vowed/agreed to be monogamous than that's your word. You gave you word. A. Big. Deal.

Elsa, I'm starting to like Saturn. It keeps an eye on everybody! Everyone pays! And what sign is closest to Saturn than Capricorn? Pluto in Capricorn?

When news of this broke last week, I thought:   EWWW.

I wish I could say I'm surprised, but I am not.   Ick and eww.   

Sick of impropriety.  Sick of lack of integrity in  private life, while lording it over others in public life.   

Gah.

The thing that concerns me more than the morality of his cheating is the environment of the workplace when the man in power is bedding his female subordinates. I wouldn't like to work with that.

Agreed, kashmiri. And that's the real issue here. In any situation where it's a boss and an employee there's a vast power difference - no way are the two people involved on equal footing. In an industry like television or film it's even worse.

i'm with kashmiri and amy -- it's called sexual harassment in the workplace -- how could these young women possibly be able to say 'no' to the man who not only had power over their jobs, but also most likely had them convinced that they would be mrs. david letterman? he's an integrity-free user. either incredibly narcissistic or even a sociopath. (i know, what else is new in show biz?) 

Jon Stewart is my secret celebrity boyfriend.

I don't feel sorry for the female staffers who slept with Letterman!

I dunno-- I'm pretty indifferent. I don't know him so don't especially care how he behaves in his private life. It seems his relationship over the years was off and on with his wife, so..whatever.

I have another take-- perhaps thanks to my 2nd house Scorp Sun and Libra Venus i.e. "healthy self-esteem" (hehe)..what if the women involved did not feel powerless, or misled, or anything else? As has been noted in the press, they seem to have genuinely liked him and are not complaining about how he treated them.

See, if someone is my boss or considered a bigger wig in the hierarchy, I can play the game and not really believe the big, bad man has so much control over my life. I can go along and get what I want out of it, and if I don't like the exchange-- I leave. For goodness sakes, I doubt people working on his show are unemployable-- they certainly have options. (As do most people, frankly-- not superstar options, real-life options. Which are fine.)

They might even truly have enjoyed his company and the benefits of knowing a rich, famous guy. No doubt about it. And people meet at work all the time-- having common interests works that way. 

I just think it's wrong to assume that men are predators and women victims. I have known of many a woman, in what seems like a subservient role, who has tied a strong, influential man around her finger.

If I were involved with a David Letterman or anyone like him, you couldn't make me believe I was in any way less important, that we weren't equals. People are people. It's entirely possible the women he was with felt the same way.

Agreed on Jon Stewart! My ex-boyfriend was like an even cuter version of him, a bit more muscular and more handsome in the face-- adorable!! Alas, he was very underendowed, in a most shocking and unexpected way, and rude to waitstaff. I threw him back in the water for someone else to catch. :)

P.D, I agree with you re: men=predators, women=victims. 

elsie, your take is interesting, I wasn't thinking sexual harassment...I was thinking in a more simplistic way (simple for better or worse?)...I don't disagree per se, I just kind of left my own thought where it began: I don't want to work anywhere, where the boss is sleeping with his/her employees. Consenting or not.

I have a big ol' Capricorn Moon and I like to say work is work is work. Fucking around is bad for production.

wow, that was a terrible, unintentional pun.

I think he did a good job. Not the cheating but the coming out. He is a public figure and there was no way of keeping this private once someone found out. He had to break the news somehow, and he did it well. For the rest it's a matter of HIS private life, and I don't believe in shaming in pubic. It's distasteful.

I know that marriage is a legal and formalized commitment, but if someone cheats on their partner before marriage, it's just as telling.  I may be old fashioned, but to me a commitment is a commitment.

I find it very interesting that people have such strong feelings about this. Kinda weird. Nobody knows this guy personally or has any dealings with him. He doesn't make public or private policy. He hasn't promised to uphold anything. He has no more reason than anybody else to be honest, upstanding or faithful.

I get that people think he did something wrong-- my question is, WHY are people worked up about it? Why in the world would anyone care to what degree he betrayed a committment (about which we know nothing, and assume a lot)??

Someone please tell me why he/she cares about how faithful David Letterman is. I'm mystified.

I'm with you PixieDust, it's none of my biz.

I think I draw a line somewhere between things that public people do that are personal, and things that are violent criminal acts such as rape or murder. 

 The private life of public figures should still be alowed to be as mixed up and difficult as people we all know. I would not want to live in a place where adultery was punishable by public stoning, for example. 

I could care less what he does but finding out about it does impact my ability to be entertained my him because it's distracting. It's like an over-exposed celeb... or one who has personal views that are offensive like Tom Cruise on post-partum depression or all those celebs who hang out with Hugo Chavez... Whoopi Goldberg defending a pedophile, etc. After awhile this has an affect... on me. These people are discounted and it's always been this way to an extent.

I remember 35 years ago when a local weatherman showed up at the hospital with a coke bottle stuck in his ass. That news leaked, you can imagine the jokes and he just couldn't do the job anymore.

Specific to Letterman, I was a fan 30 years ago when he was on daytime TV but have not watched much since. I do know he's got a reputation for mocking others (ie Oprah's weight and I know he was making sexual references re: Sarah Palin's daughter, etc. etc. for years). I'd say it helps to have a clean image if you're going to do that but who knows. I am out of touch in many ways.

My remark is on the overall trend towards people having had enough.  It's like a pendulum swinging, it is always going to swing back.

Another example would be Jennifer Aniston. Her desperation in the love department completes over-shadows anything she could do professionally at this point.  I feel for her tremendously but as far as her career goes, she'd have been better l advised to spend a year secluded so that she could mourn her loss and then come roaring back. Unfortunately celebrities are rarely well advised as far as I can see.

Pixie Dust, I get what you're saying.  I too don't really care what he does and I'm not even holding it against him, but how I feel about his actions in a general way takes a toll on how I view what he says now - it is too easy to see him as someone who has a glass house throwing stones.  Also, it informs me of my personal boundaries.  By reacting to what he's done, I can tell what I would or wouldn't do or put up with.

Doesn't totally answer your question in terms of caring about what he does, but I hope it's helpful as a perspective!

Agreed on Jennifer Aniston!  And, if she would stop starring in romantic comedies, maybe we'd have a chance to stop thinking about the romantic comedy she's NOT having in her real life, or stop focusing at all on whether she gets the guy.  Sad that her agent appears to just be collecting a fat immediate paycheck rather than thinking about the future trajectory of her career!

Well, in Letterman's case his show is still a hit and he can't really get fired, or so I've read. So I think he will continue to get away with it, especially when it seems like 99% of all male celebs cheat.

I am somehow not surprised that he dated women at work (where else is that guy gonna meet people), but I feel sorry for the girlfriend-now-wife.

My Libra Venus is offended by the cheating, but my Aqua moon is just as concerned by the finger-pointing...by the public at large, not so much this forum.    "He who is without sin...."???  I love Jon Stewart, but what if HE were caught doing the same thing?  Do we really know what anyone does -- until it is exposed?

 personally i dont think is anyones business but...

i find comments made by women  dismissing what he's done as stupendous!.

if david letterman was a woman the public and the press would have thrown him to the lions.

this guys a dipsh!t 

and so are some members of the public.

I just want to point out that my point in posting this was not DAVID LETTERMAN.

My point is that people that have commented on it publically seem to think he did nothing wrong and I was appalled by the fact that anyone would dare say that a man that cheats on his girlfriend of X amount of years has done no wrong and they still respect him as a person. 

luci, I bet most people who said David Letterman did nothing wrong were mostly men! You know, trying to act all manly like a stud. Ugh. I hate double standards!