Now that he’s got the disclosure part of the way, David Letterman is working on Phase 2 of his extortion plot situation: the apology.

On tonight’s Late Show broadcast, the host took time out to address the main woman in his life—his wife Regina Lasko. Although they have only been married since March of this year, the two have been dating for over 23 years. In other words, long before he ever started having sex with Stephanie Birkitt. (CBS provided the snippet above from this evening’s monologue.)

“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,” the 62-year-old admitted. “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.”

Letterman’s apologies weren’t limited to his wife and 5-year-old son. He extended his regrets to his coworkers as well.

“I’m terribly sorry that I put the staff in that position,” David said. “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.”

Sounds like someone should be sharing a pizza with Kanye West, not Madonna.