I think you have to also take into account the fact that a lot of people may not know Dave is married. Its not like he said 'I cheated on my wife', only that he had sex with coworkers. Even in a real life scenario, I'm sure I'd have a much different reaction depending on the wording (ie "awesome!" *high five* vs ".....ooooooh")
Same here, and I agree. I think he also has that mystique/what's really lurking underneath all of that thing going on..maybe now's not the best time to bring that up. I'm not surprised by this given his flirtatious ways and just a vibe I pick up from him on his show. Jay Leno-now that would surprise me. Sure people meet at work and I don't think Dave is the type who is comfortable going outside his comfort zone (which is probably work for him) in order to seek sex or relationships or whatever he was looking for. Just seems to me that since his name is on the show and it's his production company, well he could/should/would have tried harder to avoid these workplace relationships and the possible implications of them. And since these women were apparently featured prominently on the show (at least one of them), it could lead to appearances of favoritism and other issues among coworkers. The fact is that there is a huge power imbalance there, whether it actually came into play or not it exists all the same. And just for that reason the smartest thing to do would be to cut things off at a certain point before they cross certain lines.
I just wonder if this blackmail thing is how his longtime girlfriend and now wife found out about these relationships or if he told her prior to all of this. That would sure be a lousy way to find out. At least one of the relationships allegedly took place in the 90's and I assume they were involved then. Unless they had "off" periods when both decided to see other people, the key word being both. For me that would be key, that's all I'm saying. Don't know how their relationship works.
Good points.
In general, unless there's some sort of blatant hypocrisy going on (family values-promoting politicians or religious figures, for example), I feel very uncomfortable sitting in judgment of any individual who gets caught cheating, and has to do the public confession thing. As far as I'm concerned, all they need to atone to is their SO and their higher power, if they have one.
MrsS, I do agree with the bulk of what you say, but I think in reality, workplace relationships and dalliances are never going to be stopped, and for some people, work IS their major source for finding relationships/sex/whatever. Admittedly, there is less room for the appearance of wrongdoing when it's between equals or people who are not in a position of influencing the other's employment in any way, but supervisory - subordinate relationships still happen. I suppose if an employee(s) got pissy and wanted to sue under the guise that Birkett had some sort of unfair advantage in the workplace, that's their prerogative, and a risk that Letterman was taking in engaging in workplace relationships. I can't help but hope that it won't bite him on the ass too much though, because he does seem like a genuinely nice guy to me, someone who probably worked 16 hour days, maybe found himself getting close to female employees on occasion, and going beyond a typical boss - employee relationship. Factor into that that he's a celebrity, making it even more difficult for him to meet non-celebrity people to date (I can't ever recall him having dated a celebrity, but I could be wrong), so I can see how employees would be an ideal dating pool for him - they're people he gets to know, comes to trust, as opposed to meeting someone in a coffee shop or a bar, who may want to date him only for his status.
Cheating on a SO is almost always scummy at best, but I've been wondering about the timing of these relationships, as opposed to his long term relationship with Lasko, and Markoe before her. In the case of the former, they've been together for nearly 25 years, and just got married earlier this year, and their son is now...6? 7? So that's close to a 20 year relationship with no children, no marriage. I could be very wrong, but in general when something like that happens, it's because one or the other partner is a commitment-phobe who wants to keep their options open, or it is an on-again, off-again thing. I guess what I'm saying is, I would be very surprised if she wasn't aware of his propensity for other relationships, and that maybe the reason they waited till now to marry is because in his early 60's (heh) Dave had finally sowed his wild oats, and was ready to commit and settle down with one woman. The first known relationship was in the early 90s, so, very early in their relationship. The one with Birkett, I can't recall the timing of that, but I do know her from the show, and it's been many years since I've been a regular viewer of the show.
That was a very long-winded way of saying that not everything is black and white, and that I still want Letterman to be the good, decent guy he seems to be.
