by T McGiver

Created on: October 04, 2009   Last Updated: October 05, 2009

Once David Letterman realized that news of an alleged blackmail attempt would be made public, what realistic choice did he have other than to admit to having had sexual relations with several of his staff members?

He knew that word would spread fast and that at some point questions and rumors would thrust him into an international limelight. A scandal involving extortion, sex, and a veteran celebrity known to millions is not the kind of drama that just fades away.

After decades working in television, with legions of friends, acquaintances, and contacts among the Hollywood and New York entertainment establishments, Letterman had gained an understanding of the imperatives of media stardom that few others had. Letterman knew that television, because it brings public personalities into private bedrooms night after night, confers an immediate - if virtual - intimacy on its entertainers that writers, politicians, and movie stars might covet but rarely enjoyed.

By contrast, building intimacy with viewers required that TV entertainers first establish a foundation of trust. Erode that foundation and the edifice would collapse in short order.

Letterman thus knew that denying the allegations - or merely refusing to comment on them - would very likely be felt as a violation of the trust millions of fans had put in him. And any violation that serious could easily spiral out of control and ultimately spell the end for both his show and his reputation. Sponsors would begin dropping him. A successor would be named.

Nothing commands a celebrity comedian's attention like the prospect of being remembered for how he flamed out rather than how he once owned the night.

Letterman was especially well placed to know how best to weather the storm that was only just closing in on him. He had, after all, dined out on jokes about Bill Clinton and Monica, about Jimmy Swaggart and his prostitutes, about Eliot Spitzer and his overpriced call girl, about the affair between John Edwards and his campaign worker. He had watched them all get found out, and he'd watched them all survive after taking the heat and candidly acknowledging their errors.

Coming clean was, Letterman knew, the shortest route through the pain.

Having grown up in the ultra-conservative state of Indiana, Letterman knew, too, that Americans, unlike worldly Europeans and holistic Asians, still put sexual behavior in a fishbowl and often turned a blind eye to far more serious transgressions. Politicians could send thousands

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