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Campbell Brown
New Addictions: Hooked on the Internet; David Letterman Blackmailed?
Aired October 02, 2009 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Tonight, here are the questions we want answered.
A veteran producer allegedly tries to blackmail David Letterman. How could he think he would get away with it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Halderman demanded to be paid $2 million.
BROWN: Letterman comes clean, confessing to sex with members of his staff -- tonight, the latest on the late-night shocker.
Plus, why is John McCain's campaign manager trashing Sarah Palin?
STEVE SCHMIDT, FORMER MCCAIN CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: She would not be a winning candidate for the Republican Party in 2012. We could have a catastrophic election result.
BROWN: Also, our special investigation, "New Addictions: Hooked on the Internet." For some kids it's much more than a game and it's ruining their lives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I neglected pretty much everything else, relationships, school, hygiene, eating. Basically, my day consisted of playing "World of Warcraft" is sleeping.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This child was gone and replaced by this, oh, beyond sullen, withdrawn, totally antisocial person.
BROWN: And tonight's newsmaker, Pulitzer Prize winner Taylor Branch, the man with the Clinton tapes and the stories you have never heard until now. What went on behind closed doors in the Oval Office during impeachment?
TAYLOR BRANCH, AUTHOR, "THE CLINTON TAPES: WRESTLING HISTORY WITH THE PRESIDENT": She felt more strongly against impeachment than she did.
And you should stand up and fight harder on it.
BROWN: Firsthand revelations.
Also, no gold for President Obama. How did he come up short for Chicago?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One of the things that I think is most valuable about sports is that you can play a great game and still not win.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is your only source for news. CNN prime time begins now. Here's Campbell Brown.
BROWN: Hi, everybody.
Those are the big questions tonight. But we're going to start, as we always do, with the "Mash-Up," our look at the stories making impact right now, the moments you may have missed today. We are watching it all so you don't have to.
And leading the news tonight, a bizarre story of extortion, a CBS News producer arrested for trying to blackmail David Letterman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That CBS News producer is out of jail on $200,000 bond. He's described as intelligent, top- notch, but now stands accused of doing something his co-workers say is incredibly stupid, trying to blackmail David Letterman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prosecutors say he waited outside Letterman's Manhattan home at 6:00 a.m. on September 9 and left a package in the back seat of Letterman's car.
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": It says that, I know that you do some terrible, terrible things.
(LAUGHTER)
MEREDITH VIEIRA, CO-HOST, "THE TODAY SHOW": And at first it's obvious the audience thinks it's a joke. It doesn't make sense.
MATT LAUER, CO-HOST, "THE TODAY SHOW": Right.
VIEIRA: But then there's no punchline. And you realize it's very serious stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prosecutors described their clear recordings of Joe Halderman allegedly threatening to expose David Letterman's sexual past.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For Halderman, he has been suspended by CBS News, pending results of the criminal investigation.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: His uncle and spokesman, Richard Smith, is joining us now.
RICHARD SMITH, HALDERMAN'S UNCLE: What is so shocking to us, we don't understand anything that would drive Joe into this position.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: We are going to have a whole lot more on this incredibly strange story coming up tonight, including new details about Joe Halderman and his alleged plan again, as you just heard, to extort millions from Letterman.
In Copenhagen today, disappointment from President Obama, who schlepped all the way to Denmark and came home empty-handed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The 2016 Summer Olympics are headed for Rio de Janeiro.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Brazilian city beat out Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid to host the 2016 Olympic Games.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten thousand hopeful Chicagoans crowded into a downtown plaza this morning, hoping for the best.
BLITZER: Of the four cities remaining, Chicago got the least number of votes.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You could almost feel the city of Chicago get a punch in the gut when that announcement came out.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: People looked at each other to say, did that really happen? Did Chicago just get eliminated? It wasn't even the normal response that you would get out of defeat. This was absolute confusion and confoundment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chicago's elimination in spite of those personal closing arguments from its premier power couple.
OBAMA: I urge you to choose Chicago. I urge you to choose America.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: South America has never hosted an Olympic Games. That was a big part of the pitch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brazil reminded the IOC, the Olympics have been held 30 times in Europe, five in Asia, twice in Australia, and 12 times in North America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Chicago got the big heave-ho while President Obama was still up in the sky. When Air Force One landed back in the states, the president congratulated Rio, as the White House team fanned out with the day's message, which was disappointment, but no regrets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: It's always a worthwhile endeavor.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president would never shy away from...
DAVID AXELROD, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: The president will go anywhere... OBAMA: To promote.
AXELROD: To promote.
GIBBS: Showcase.
OBAMA: And boost.
AXELROD: The interest of this country.
GIBBS: What America has to offer the world.
OBAMA: What we're all about.
GIBBS: The biggest loss of anything on this trip was sleep.
AXELROD: All he gave up really was a little bit of sleep.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: A bitter pill to swallow for the White House. Brazil's president, however, literally wept tears of joy at the news.
One good thing about the president's trip abroad, he did finally get some quality face time with the U.S. commander in charge of the war in Afghanistan. General Stanley McChrystal flew to Copenhagen from London for a brief meeting with the commander in chief aboard Air Force One.
McChrystal has been urging the White House to send more troops to the war zone. Perhaps that came up in today's meeting. McChrystal recently said he had only spoken with the president once in the past seven months.
Serious news, rescue efforts continue tonight in Indonesia, more than 1,100 people feared dead after a pair of devastating earthquakes this week, thousands still believed to be buried under mountains of rubble. Other areas of Southeast Asia tonight also digging out from a week of natural disasters, with another dangerous storm, perhaps, on the horizon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The president of the Philippines has declared a state of calamity, as Typhoon Parma approaches. The move allows officials to forcibly evacuate residents out of flood-prone areas before the storm makes landfall Saturday. Parts of Manila are still under water from Ketsana.
KATIE COURIC, HOST, "CBS EVENING NEWS": Emergency crews in Padang say they heard more voices from beneath the rubble, but it's taking a painfully long time to clear the debris. The U.N. now says at least 1,100 people died in the quake, and police say 3,000 more may be trapped.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More international aid meantime is arriving in Samoa and American Samoa, where the death toll is nearing 200. In Tuesday's earthquake and following tsunamis, hundreds of people are still missing on those islands.
BROWN: And you heard about the Typhoon Parma. Well, the Philippines weather bureau now warning that it would turn into a super typhoon, meaning winds of up to 150 miles per hour, expected to make landfall tomorrow.
Here at home, some sobering news on the job front today, as the unemployment rate hits another 26-year high. The big number, 9.8 percent in September. That's up from 9 -- or up from, rather, 9 percent -- or 9.7 percent -- excuse many -- in August.
Vice President Joe Biden at the White House today trying to put a positive spin on the jobs report. He's kind of become the administration's responder in chief on unemployment or employment figures, on message month after month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We don't think that less bad is good. Less bad is not our measure of success.
I want to be clear about something. Less bad is not good.
We inherited an awful lot of baggage.
When we took office back in January, job losses were staggering.
The Recovery Act is working.
The Recovery Act is working.
I believe we're doing the right things and to move things in the right direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: The unemployment rate now the highest since June of 1983.
BROWN: Moving now from Joe Biden to the woman who wanted his job. Sarah Palin slammed today by former McCain/Palin campaign manager Steve Schmidt. Schmidt was speaking in Washington when John King asked him his thoughts on Palin in 2012.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As someone who has won campaigns and lost campaigns and has worked very closely with her, does she have what it takes?
SCHMIDT: I think that she has talents, but, you know, my honest view is that she would not be a winning candidate for the Republican Party in 2012. And, in fact, were she to be the nominee, we could have a catastrophic election result.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Ouch.
We're guessing Palin will save her response for the book.
And here's the cover, by the way, "Going Rogue" out in November, but already a bestseller. And here's one final nugget of Palin news tonight. Apparently, the former first dude Todd Palin has quit his job on the oil field to spend more time with his family.
And speaking of family values, time to check in with the Gosselin, papa Jon now saying he wants his eight kids off the show that made them famous. Apparently, he now thinks all of that exposure may be not so good for them. Here's what he told Larry King.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON GOSSELIN, PARENT: I'm asking not to be on the show and I'm asking my children not to be on the show. I mean, I don't want them to film anymore. I don't think it's healthy for them.
And I -- the reason I don't think it's healthy to them is that we're going through a divorce right now. And I don't think it should be televised. And I think my kids should be taken off the show.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Now, just moments ago, we happened to catch Jon Gosselin on another program talking about his various girlfriends and whether or not he smokes pot.
Maybe that's not so healthy for the kids either, Jon.
And that brings us to the "Punchline," courtesy of Chris Rock on Jay Leno's couch last time displaying a complete and utter lack of sympathy for Roman Polanski.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS ROCK, COMEDIAN: People are defending Roman Polanski because he made some good movies?
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE JAY LENO SHOW": Yes, I don't get it. I mean...
ROCK: Are you kidding me?
(CROSSTALK)
ROCK: He made good movies 30 years ago.
(LAUGHTER)
ROCK: Even Johnnie Cochran didn't have the nerve to go, well, did you see O.J. play against New England?
(LAUGHTER) (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: Chris Rock, everybody. And that is the "Mash-Up."
David Letterman blackmailed, allegedly, by a "48 Hours" producer. The big question, how could a guy who investigates crime stories for a living think he could get away with it?
Plus, our special investigation, "New Addictions," tonight, "Hooked on the Internet," why some kids have completely lost control online.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just stopped going to class and stopped doing my homework. And I just basically totally withdrew from that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we would take the computer away from him, say, no, you're not going to play this weekend, his response is physiological, the dilation of his eyes. His behavior were totally like an addict's behavior when whatever it is they're using is taken away from them. And we could see that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: A CBS News producer out on bond tonight after being accused of extortion, trying to get $2 million from late-night celebrity David Letterman. Letterman broke the story himself on last night's show.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LETTERMAN: This started three weeks ago yesterday. And I got up -- I get up early and I come to work early and I go out and get into my car.
And in the back seat of my car is a package. So, I get to looking through it, and there's a letter in the package. And it says that I know that you do some terrible, terrible things.
(LAUGHTER)
LETTERMAN: And I can prove that you do these terrible things.
And, sure enough, contained in the package was stuff to prove that I do terrible things.
(LAUGHTER)
LETTERMAN: And he's going to put it into a movie unless I give him some money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So, how did this scheme unfold?
Well, after finding that package September 9, Letterman and his lawyer had a series of meetings with the accused blackmailer, veteran CBS News producer Joe Halderman. Working with the Manhattan's district attorney's office, they set up a sting. Wednesday, Letterman handed over a phony check for $2 million, which the DA says Halderman deposited in a Connecticut bank.
Well, yesterday, Halderman was arrested in front of the CBS News offices. In court today, he pled not guilty. Now, as for the secret that David Letterman was supposed to fork over two million bucks in order to try to keep quiet, well, Letterman revealed it himself. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LETTERMAN: Now, of course, we get to what was it, what was all the creepy stuff that he was going to put into the screenplay and the movie?
And the creepy stuff was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show.
Now, my response to that is, yes, I have.
(LAUGHTER)
LETTERMAN: I have had sex with women who work on this show.
(APPLAUSE)
LETTERMAN: And would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would. Perhaps it would, especially for the women.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Letterman's production company issued a statement today saying that -- quote -- "All the relationships David Letterman was referencing when discussing the matter on 'The Late Show' predated his marriage."
Letterman married his longtime girlfriend, Regina Lasko, back in March.
And CNN's Tom Foreman joining us here with me in New York tonight to talk about all this. Also from Los Angeles, CNN legal analyst Lisa Bloom and Sharon Waxman, who is editor in chief of entertainment and media business Web site TheWrap.com, with us tonight as well.
Lisa, we heard some very awkward laughter from the crowd listening to him. They were clearly stunned by what they were hearing from Letterman. But there's a serious crime alleged here, isn't there?
LISA BLOOM, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Absolutely, this crime of extortion, which is called grand larceny in New York, punishable by up to 15 years behind bars.
And why? Because this is something that really struck terror in the heart of David Letterman. He described the fear he felt when he found this letter in his car on his property, which mentioned his 6-year-old son, among other things.
That's the kind of thing that would strike fear in most of our hearts. And you have got to wonder what is a person like this capable of, if they would write a letter like that, demand action, demand $2 million within two hours?
Luckily, according to Letterman, he was able to set this guy up, work would the DA's office, and have this sting, so that he was caught. But underlying all of this I think we should keep in mind is a very serious crime.
BROWN: And, Tom, you have been looking into this. What do we know about the CBS producer, Joe Halderman? What can you tell us?
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know, first of all, and importantly, that he says he didn't do this. He went in and said he was not guilty. His lawyer says they're going to fight the charges vigorously. We also know he's 51 years old. We know that he makes a pretty good bit of money. He had had a contract as of a couple of years ago to make over $200,000 a year, which, as you may know, doesn't go as far as New York City.
But he has some big debts out there. There was a divorce settlement some years ago, alimony and child support, taking about $7,000 a month that he had to pay for that. So, we're not sure what his overall financial situation is, though.
But, Campbell, you do the math on that, he could have easily been spending close to half of his take-home pay on all these other payments.
BROWN: And there's a woman who is part of this story, that is, she, I think -- we think, the link between Letterman and Halderman, correct?
FOREMAN: Well, she certainly -- she's some kind of a link. We don't really know what kind. This is the really interesting part. This young woman is David Letterman's personal assistant.
You have seen her on the show from time to time. And she also, according to these court documents, not too many years ago, was the live-in girlfriend of Halderman. There she is right behind Letterman right there. She was the live-in girlfriend of Halderman.
Now, they broke up some time in the past, not quite clear when. But she is still David Letterman's personal assistant. Exactly what the whole link is we don't know. But there clearly was a relationship, there is a relationship between her and David Letterman and was a relationship with Halderman.
BROWN: All right, Sharon, because, I guess, David Letterman is known as this fiercely private person, you were struck by how open he was about this, weren't you?
SHARON WAXMAN, THEWRAP.COM: Yes. I thought that was a pretty high- wire act that he was doing on television with his audience.
But he had to be weighing what were the options in terms of the aftermath of the story. Today, everything leaks, whether on Twitter or whether in a gossip column or somewhere. So, he had to take a deep breath, I think, to be so open with his public and to confess something so incredibly personal.
I mean, it would be personal for everybody or anybody, but particularly for somebody like David Letterman, who has really kept his private life unbelievably far from the cameras for somebody who's been a member of every living room for the past couple of decades.
And, so, I think that that was pretty daring of him, and he's taking a chance with his audience. He's trusting that relationship that he's had, that he's built with them, that they may not like it, but that ultimately they would rather hear it from him.
BROWN: Not to mention that he makes a ton of money. He could have paid this guy off, right, Sharon?
WAXMAN: Oh, yes, but that just seems like, who would do that? That just is an invitation to a nightmare, I would think, if you're letting somebody like that in your life.
It does seem like a scary thing. And one thing I was really struck about in that -- in the telling of the story was how many times he referred to how scared he was and scared for his family. And I think anybody could relate to that. Who wouldn't be scared?
BROWN: Tom, there's an irony here, in that this producer who allegedly did this worked for an investigative program, "48 Hours."
FOREMAN: Yes, yes, sure.
BROWN: What are the people there who knew him, worked with him saying about...
(CROSSTALK)
FOREMAN: Well, you know, Campbell, that's what we were -- we were all saying in the newsrooms all day, like, a "48 Hours" guy? These guys specialize in lawyers and schemes that unravel.
(CROSSTALK)
FOREMAN: It depends on who you talk to. Some of his family members, some of his friends say they really can't believe that he would have done this sort of thing. They want to know what could have driven him to such of thing, if he's guilty of it. Other people say, look, he was always kind of a bigger-than-life personality, good at his job, but always sort of living out there on the edge a little bit. You always hear those kinds of things at times like this.
What we do know, though, is, it is a real irony here. This is a show that's all about people coming up with extraordinary schemes and watching them unravel. And, of course, "48 Hours" does a great job explaining how they unravel. So, if he's guilty, people are going to talk about that forever.
BROWN: Yes.
Lisa, Letterman having admitted to these sexual relationships with his staffers, does that cause him any potential legal problems?
BLOOM: Well, what we know so far is that he had sex with staffers, because he admitted it. I have to assume these were all consenting adults. We don't have any facts otherwise. But, as a general matter, every country, every company frowns upon an employer having sex with a subordinate.
Why? Because it has the potential to create a hostile work environment, to create claims of sexual harassment. I want other emphasize we have no facts to support that here. But there are cases, for example, where somebody in the workplace can say, look, the boss is having sex with somebody else in the workplace. She's getting advantages and promotions that I'm not getting.
It creates a hostile environment. That's why it's a bad idea. I'm sure Letterman knew that. That's why he said last night he was embarrassed by this.
BLITZER: All right. We're ending it there. Lisa Bloom for us, Sharon Waxman, and, of course, Tom Foreman here with me in New York, thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
BLOOM: Thanks.
WAXMAN: Thanks.
BROWN: Behind the scenes at the White House -- tonight, you are going to get a very personal glimpse at Bill Clinton. Take a listen to what he told a furious Al Gore after Gore blamed Clinton for his loss in the 2000 presidential race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRANCH: He wound up saying, Al, Hillary had a heck of a lot more reason to resent me over Monica Lewinsky than you did, and yet she was smart enough to run on our record unabashedly. And she won, and you didn't. And you would have if you had run a campaign like Hillary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: What really went on inside the White House after the Lewinsky affair? Tonight, we are getting newly revealed details from the famed historian who made "The Clinton Tapes."
(NEWS BREAK)
BROWN: Coming up next, our special investigation tonight, "New Addictions," tonight, a look at kids literally addicted to the Internet. We met one young man who had to go to rehab to try to kick the habit. How does a generally harmless pastime start to ruin a kid's life? Check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This child that we love and enjoyed and had had wonderful experiences with as he was growing up was gone and replaced by this, oh, beyond sullen, withdrawn, totally antisocial person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Tonight, part two of our exclusive special investigation, "New Addictions."
Internet addiction is on the rise. And it's a lot more than constantly surfing the Internet. More and more young people are getting hooked on interactive online games, compulsively spending hours playing them, ignoring everything else and everyone else in their lives.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN (voice-over): Like most teenagers, Ben Alexander set out for college looking to discover a new world. And he did. But it was nothing like he had imagined, and it nearly destroyed him.
PETER ALEXANDER, FATHER OF BEN: Ben was -- was, I think, very creative, very bright. He did not have a great deal of difficulty with -- with anything.
BROWN: Still, within the span of just a few months, Peter and Linda Alexander witnessed a startling transformation in their son.
LINDA ALEXANDER, BEN'S MOTHER: This child that we love and enjoyed and had had wonderful experiences with as he was growing up was gone and replaced by this beyond sullen, withdrawn, totally anti-social person.
BROWN: What Ben's parents didn't know was that he was losing himself in an online fantasy universe, one of the many multiplayer Internet games out there, World of Warcraft.
BEN ALEXANDER, RECOVERING INTERNET ADDICT: I told myself I'm going to try it out and see what it's like. And that would be the end of it. BROWN: But it wasn't the end. The game drew him in, introducing him to other players, people who didn't see him as the shy, awkward kid that he was but the brave virtual warrior he had become.
B. ALEXANDER: I was a lot more outgoing in the game than I ever was comfortable with in real life.
BROWN: Linda began to see her son turning into a different person.
L. ALEXANDER: It's far more animated. When he was talking to these people online, sitting on his bed, you know, madly typing on his keyboard and playing this game, far more animated than we'd seen him for years. He had lots of power, lots of authority in that game, whereas in social -- real social situations, he had very little.
BROWN: Before too long, Ben was hooked.
B. ALEXANDER: I stopped going to class and stopped doing my home work and I just basically, totally withdrew from that.
L. ALEXANDER: Peter and I would ask him about school and, you know, what did you hear in lecture today? What's your professor's name? Well, I don't know. And if he doesn't even know the teacher's name, there's a problem.
BROWN: Ben knew he had a problem, too. He tried to stop but he couldn't. He was playing 16 to 17 hours a day. His obsession was out of control.
B. ALEXANDER: I neglected pretty much everything else, relationships, school, hygiene, eating. Basically my day consisted of playing World of Warcraft.
BROWN: Finally he turned to his parents for help and moved back home in the middle of his first semester. Peter and Linda tried to put locks on the computer, blocked Ben from going online but that didn't work either.
P. ALEXANDER: He was going on to the parental controls, changing the schedule in the middle of the night so he can play all night long and then change it back in the morning.
BROWN: The situation only got worse.
L. ALEXANDER: Clearly, very depressed. With all of the symptoms that go along with depression, he was not eating well. He would not talk to us. He would not answer questions, unless we forced him to respond and then it would be a one-word answer.
BROWN: Ben's parents sought professional help for their son but it wasn't easy. The American Psychiatric Association doesn't recognize Internet addiction as its own separate disorder. The Alexanders say most substance abuse programs weren't equipped to treat it.
Then they discovered the reStart Center, a clinic outside Seattle that bills itself as the first inpatient treatment facility for Internet addicts. Pyschotherapist Cosette Dawna Rae, who co-founded reStart says troubled young people like Ben can see World of Warcraft and other online games like an escape hatch.
COSETTE DAWNA RAE, RESTART INTERNET ADDICTION RECOVERY CTR: They may be dealing with anxiety disorder or maybe they have depression. Maybe the stress is overwhelming in their lives. A variety of reasons that might lead somebody to use the computer as a coping strategy.
BROWN: Ray believes Internet addiction is real and that recovering addicts experience withdrawal.
RAE: They start to be -- you know, exhibit signs and symptoms of anxiety, stress. Some aggression. You know, we hear of people putting their fist through walls, they're so angry and frustrated.
BROWN: Frustration Linda Alexander saw in the eyes of her own son.
L. ALEXANDER: When Ben would -- when we would take the computer away from him, say, no, you're not going to play this weekend, his response is physiological, the dilation of his eyes, his behaviors were totally like an addicts' behavior when whatever it is that they're using is taken away from them. And we could see that.
BROWN: Ben's road back has not been easy.
B. ALEXANDER: Obviously, I lost pretty much a year of my life to this. So there's a lot of missed opportunities.
BROWN: He is now living at home, trying to earn enough money to go back to college and make up for lost time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: In just a moment, Drew Pinsky, Dr. Drew is going to join us to take a little bit deeper into this. How you can spot Internet addiction problems.
And you can also join the conversation. Dr. Drew will be answering your questions live online. Go to CNN.com/Campbell.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: Internet addiction. You may know someone who has this problem and it actually can't be debilitating. We just introduced you to Ben Alexander. He's a college student who became so obsessed with an online game that he had to drop out of college. His mom, Linda, describes his radical transformation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA ALEXANDER, BEN'S MOTHER: Horrible. Because this child that we loved and enjoyed and had had wonderful experiences with as he was growing up was gone and replaced by this beyond sullen, withdrawn, totally anti-social person until he got engaged in the game and then he was animated in a different way than we were familiar with. And that was scary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So how common is this? That's the question tonight for Dr. Drew Pinsky. He is assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Keck School of Medicine at USC. Also, the host and executive producer of "Celebrity Rehab" on VH1.
Hey, Drew, good to see you.
DR. DREW PINSKY, KECK SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, USC: Campbell, thank you.
BROWN: As we reported, the American Psychiatric Association doesn't yet recognize Internet addiction as a real disorder. But what do you think? Do you think it's real?
PINSKY: Well, it's real. The question is does it qualify as a separate diagnostic category? There's simply no doubt that people do get caught into these webs.
I've discussed this with a number of young people. Interestingly, some of the kids I've dealt with did, in fact, get hooked on World of Warcraft. There are people who get hooked on Internet gambling and I think people are worried that Internet pornography is a very serious disorder as well.
So it's absolutely something that occurs in the piece you showed was precisely how it develops. The question, though, is it a separate disorder or is it something associated, a symptom associated with other psychiatric and psychological conditions?
BROWN: What do all these things have in common, I guess? What's really the appeal to young adults or teenagers?
PINSKY: I think there are two appeals. One is what was mentioned in the piece, which is you can live out a fantasy life. You can be something bigger, different, more than you perceive yourself to be in real life. That is sort of -- frankly, I think that's more the superficial aspect of what people are doing.
The other piece is what I've noticed that my patients to get involved in this stuff is they tend to use something we call disassociation. They disconnect. They sort of get out of body, they get in the flow where time passes without them even being aware. And it's a way of disconnecting from unpleasant feeling states.
In that young man we saw in the piece, he was depressed. He was anxious. He had all kinds of social issues, and he could escape that in this disassociative world of the Internet.
BROWN: So, let's talk about treatments. And usually when you treat addiction, you're teaching a person to kick the habit entirely. But in our world, you can't really function without a computer. I mean, how do you get people to break from is this?
PINSKY: You know, it's an interesting question. In my experience, we do several different things. I've never had to break a kid of World of Warcraft other than focusing on the World of Warcraft. They seem to be able to manage other aspects of communication on the Internet.
But there are other kinds of Internet compulsions where I have to had to go in. We clean their hard drives. We check there, we erase their passwords. We eliminate the potential for them to continue in these interactions that they lose themselves in. And some of them -- you know, some of them, they come in through these various sort of benign means and then they end up in very malignant states, malignant places, sort of slippery places. And you have really help the patient construct a safe Internet environment.
BROWN: And quickly, Drew, I know after their experience with Ben, Peter and Linda Alexander were warning other parents to try to limit the time that their kids spend online. Is that -- would that be the advice that you would give other parents...
PINSKY: I think, yes.
BROWN: ... in terms of sort of passing on health habits, I guess?
PINSKY: Well, absolutely. And it's an interesting thing. You know, these -- for those of us that are parents, we don't really have any familiarity with how much time should be spent on the Internet. We kind of know what time they should go to bed at a certain time, they should have structured meals, maybe limit the television.
But the Internet, I remember asking my kids junior high school, how long on the Internet? They go, that's every family's personal decision. I thought, boy, that's the one place we really have no experience with. We have to figure that one out.
And I don't have a specific number in mind. But here's the deal. Like with every aspect of parenting, do the job, stay on top of it and know that it can become a problem. So share the passwords that your kids have. Watch what they're doing. Do the due diligence so you can be sure if the problem develops, you can jump on top of it.
BROWN: Dr. Drew Pinsky for us. Drew, thank you so much for your help this week. You're going to stick around. I know if you people at home have got more questions about Internet addiction, you can chat live right now with Dr. Drew. He's going to be logging off -- or logging on, rather, as soon as he gets off the set.
PINSKY: Will do.
BROWN: So go to CNN.com/Campbell. Thanks, Drew.
Coming up next, a book that gives a revealing look inside the Clinton White House, including what many didn't know about Bill and Hillary.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Tonight's "Newsmaker," a Pulitzer prize-winning historian who is revealing secrets about what went on inside Bill Clinton's White House. Taylor Branch's new book "The Clinton Tapes" is based on numerous, long, frank interviews he had with the ex-president.
I had the chance to talk with Taylor Branch about this tapes and the book earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: I want to start with how this book even came into being because it's a pretty extraordinary story. Your long-time friend Bill Clinton, the newly elected president calls you up and says what?
TAYLOR BRANCH, AUTHOR, "THE CLINTON TAPES": Well, actually one of his aides called and said would you be free to come down to Washington and see the president? And he's the president-elect? And I said, fine, do you have any idea why? I haven't seen him in 20 years. I used to know him when we were kids.
And he was concerned about the vividness and the quality of historical records that would enable people to write about what happened in his administration even before he took office. He was worried about it. And out of that worry, I mean, it's a long story, came this project to try to record a secret diary late at night in the White House to help historians understand what he felt like that was not on the public record and wanted to have there.
BROWN: And you did 79 interviews with him, 200 hours of tape. And I know he would often call you out of the blue and just say, get over here. I mean, what was that like?
BRANCH: Well, it's always an adventure. Sometimes he'd be in a crisis meeting and that would interfere or sometimes Chelsea would need help with her home work. You never knew what was going to happen in the White House.
BROWN: All those tapes he kept in a sock drawer in the White House, right?
BRANCH: Yes. I didn't know that for the first term. But by the second term when this project continued, a lot of times he would have to leave and go attend to business and have me put the tapes away. So he showed me where they were. And right next to their bedroom and behind in the big bathroom behind their living quarters is a set of drawers. And in the top one he kept his socks and in the back he had these boxes where he stored the little microcassette tapes from my recorder.
BROWN: Well, let's get into what's in the book. We all know there are a lot of people out there who are going to go straight to the index and flip to Lewinsky. And on that story, he lied to you about that for a long time, didn't he? He told you it wasn't true.
BRANCH: Well, we actually didn't discuss it that much. He told the world that it wasn't true, so I assumed that until he put something different on the record that he would tell me the same. And so we didn't ask -- we didn't discuss it very much.
BROWN: When the truth did finally come out, he told you, this is the quote, I think I just cracked. Tell me more about that.
When the truth did finally come out, I mean, he told you and this was the quote. "I think I just cracked." Tell me more about that.
BRANCH: When he said he cracked, he meant that that resolved crack under his own self-pity that he was feeling sorry that he was so besieged by scandal when he felt that he was trying to do the best for the country and had been for some time.
BROWN: The Clinton marriage, probably one of the biggest mysteries in American politics. Tell me what you observed of Bill and Hillary Clinton together, particularly around the time of impeachment? I mean, what were they like as a couple.
BRANCH: There was a tremendous warmth and partnership that was quite striking to me before and after Lewinsky. I could never really explain it. I didn't know what all had been going on between them.
But she certainly -- they spoke in shorthand. They spoke in endearments. I'm not saying a lot of romance, but I'm just saying they were clearly partners to the point that she felt more strongly against impeachment than he did.
He said, look, this is politics. If they want to throw me out of office they can do it. And she said, no, Bill, you're wrong about that. This impeachment should be about an abuse of a presidential power. This isn't abuse of impeachment because this is not what it's supposed to be about. And you should stand up and fight harder on it.
BROWN: And through all of this you're documenting his thoughts with all of these investigations going on we should say at the White House. You know, everybody there at the time was getting lawyers. I mean, were you ever concerned that the tapes could become a matter of public record, that you might, at some point, be forced to testify?
BRANCH: I'm not -- I'm not claiming to be a very brave person here, Campbell, but my real worry was not so much whether I would get subpoenaed. I was worried that if the tapes were discovered, the whole process would be shortchanged and would be avoided.
I was worried that we wouldn't be able to compile this record. So it's an ironic posture, because the whole point of this is to open it up and let people see how the president really thinks and how he did government. I won't apologize. I'm proud that we did. It's not easy to keep a secret in Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: And our thanks tonight. That was Taylor Branch, again, the author of "The Clinton Tapes."
From "The Clinton Tapes" to the Jackson tapes. Sad and shocking revelations, they are recounted in a new book by the King of Pop's spiritual adviser. That when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: New developments tonight in the Michael Jackson case. For the first time, Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, showed up for a court hearing today and heard the judge say it looks like Michael's three children are really doing wonderfully with their grandmother as their guardian.
A new book shows a very candid side of Jackson. The pop star sat down with my guest, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, for 30 hours of conversation about his life, about his hopes, about his fears and now, detailed in Boteach's book "The Michael Jackson Tapes." Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: You recorded over 30 hours of conversation with Jackson. And you and your family were staying at the Neverland Ranch at the same time as the boy who later accused Jackson of sexual molestation. And Jackson talked to you about that relationship.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACKSON: He said to me last night --- he said, I need you. He said, when are you coming home? I said, I don't know. He said, I need you, Michael. Just like that.
He said, I need you Michael. Then he calls me dad. I go, you better ask your dad if it's OK for you to call me that. He says, Dad, is it OK if I call Michael Dad. He says yes. He said no problem. Whatever you want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Was Jackson having an inappropriate relationship with that child?
RABBI SHMULEY BOTEACH, AUTHOR, "THE MICHAEL JACKSON TAPES": I don't believe he was at all. And, in fact, one of my criticisms of Michael when we were at Neverland for his 41st birthday and that family arrived, was that I felt he was even neglecting both the child and his family. I even remember going to Michael in his bedroom suite and saying, you know, they're here. You've got to spend more time with them.
I never thought that there was any inappropriate relationship with that child.
BROWN: But you -- you did counsel him and you encouraged him more generally to stop these relationships with children, right?
BOTEACH: Absolutely. What is certainly true is that Michael confessed, Campbell, on international television, to sharing a bed with that child. I used to grab him by the shoulders and say to him, swear to me that you will never be alone with a child. And he would say, of course I won't. I said, Michael, you understand that after the 1993 allegations -- which he always dismissed as a lie -- you can never be alone with a child.
BROWN: He also talked to you about the relationship with his father. He's accused his father, Joe Jackson, of being very, very abusive.
And here's what he said about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACKSON: He would make you strip nude first. He would oil you down. It would be a whole ritual. He would oil you down. So when the foot of the -- of the ironing cord hit you, it just, you know -- and it was just like me dying.
And he would just whip you all over your face, your back, everywhere. And I would always hear my mother in the back, no, Joe, you're going to kill them. You're going to kill them. No.
And I was like, I would just give up. Like there was nothing I could do. You know. And I hated him for it. I hated him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: How did Jackson's relationship with his father affect his life?
BOTEACH: Well, one of the things that I think is so moving about this book is that it's not Michael Jackson, the superstar, it's Michael Jackson, the man. And he relates an almost indescribable loneliness and brokenness that was the product of what he felt was a neglectful childhood. Michael loved his father. He says he hated him for the -- the extreme physicality. But he always yearned for a reconciliation -- a loving reconciliation with his father, which never came.
There's no question that Michael felt that fame and fortune might one day compensate for the lack of validation of parental love that he felt was absent from his life. And he -- he relates so movingly that we in America all think that if we just make enough money and if we just become sufficiently recognizable on a street corner, that we will finally find happiness.
And yet Michael says, I was the loneliest man in the world, a celebrity who became so deeply isolated.
BROWN: To that point, he -- he also talked about that, being the most famous man in the world, perhaps, and at the same time never really feeling loved.
And let's listen to what he said about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACKSON: And I'm -- I'm not going to say something. I've never said it before and this is the truth, Shmuley. I have no reason to lie to you. God knows I'm telling the truth.
I think all my success and fame -- and I've wanted it, I wanted it because I wanted to be loved. That's all. That's the real truth. I wanted people to love -- truly love me because I never really felt loved. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: For all the fame, for all the money, for all the attention, why couldn't he fill that void?
BOTEACH: So Michael had tons of attention, but he never felt loved. And when he said that to me, that one of the most celebrated careers in the history of show business was all an attempt to simply get love, I sat there stupefied. I said to myself, every kid on Earth wants -- wants to be Michael Jackson. They go on "American Idol" hoping that they'll be the next great sensation.
BROWN: You ended your relationship with Michael and you have these tapes. You know there are going to be people who say that you are exploiting him by putting these tapes out.
Why -- why put them out?
Why was it so important to you that people hear this and understand this?
BOTEACH: First and foremost, Michael wanted it out there. He wanted his voice to be heard. He wanted people to judge him more charitably by understanding the extent of the suffering he endured as a child and even as an adult.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.
And "LARRY KING LIVE" starts in just a few minutes.
Up next, tonight's "Guilty Pleasure." The video we just can't resist, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: "LARRY KING LIVE" starts in just a few moments.
But first, Mike Galanos is back. He's got tonight's "Guilty Pleasure," the video we just couldn't resist.
Mike, what have you got?
MIKE GALANOS, HLN PRIME NEWS: Well, Campbell, we know no one calls out people like Jon Stewart. Well, his latest target, one of our own. Check this out. "Daily Show" clip thanks to CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, HOST, "DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART": Sometimes they do actually perform valuable public service.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": Dire warnings about texting and driving. It can be more dangerous than being drunk behind the wheel. And now the government wants to lay down the law. (END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: Yes. Thank you, CNN's Kiran Chetry with a reminder that using the handheld devices in your car is a very dangerous practice. Oh, which reminds CNN's Kiran Chetry about this really cool new thing you can do with your cell phone in your car.
CHETRY: This is a cool thing because if you're in the car already, right? You need to know what the traffic is going to be. It doesn't make any sense if you're sitting at home trying to figure it out.
So check it out. You can get real-time traffic. This is for the New York area. And you can just scroll up, go through all the different areas, places where there are problems on the road and then you can all check out the weather.
STEWART: It says here on CNN.com that there's been a crash ahead, a five -- a five-car pileup with people that have died caused by careless use of -- no. Oh, no, now it's a six-car pileup.
As I'm passing out, I must submit an I-report. In fairness -- in fairness -- in fairness to Kiran Chetry, she delivered the warning against texting while driving one day after she debuted the amazing new phone app you can use while driving. All right.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: What Kiran meant was if you're in the passenger seat or in the back seat, you can use --
CHETRY: Right, helping out the driver. Because I said in the car, I didn't say behind the wheel. But you know what? He got us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALANOS: She admitted it, Campbell.
BROWN: And has a sense of humor about it. Mike Galanos, thanks, Mike. Have a great weekend.
GALANOS: Thanks. You too.
BROWN: Thanks everybody. Thanks for joining us. Have a good weekend. See you on Monday.
"LARRY KING LIVE" starts right now.
