Letterman Unrestrained

Tue., Dec. 27, 2005 4:15 PM PST by Joal Ryan

Sometimes a cigar just is a cigar. And sometimes when David Letterman says "Oprah," he just means Oprah Winfrey.

A woman who claimed Letterman's "Oprah" was a secret marriage proposal might wish to consider the latter after a judge in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Tuesday quashed a temporary restraining order against the late night star.

Letterman's attorneys successfully argued that Colleen Nestler, 59, had no legal grounds to ask a court to keep the host 100 yards away from her at all times. The Late Show comic's camp also made a case that the New Mexico court had no sway over the East Coast-based Letterman.

In a Dec. 15 filing, Nestler accused Letterman of inflicting mental cruelty, causing sleep deprivation, and contributing to her financial ruin. She won her temporary restraining order the same day.

In defeat on Tuesday, Nestler sounded undefeated. "I have achieved my purpose," she said outside the courthouse, according to the Associated Press. "The public knows that this man cannot come near me."

To stress her point, Nestler told the court that she would "break their legs" if Letterman or his delegates invaded her personal space. Later, she denied that the "break their legs" remark was a threat.

For his part, Letterman, 58, sounds as if he's willing to let bygones be bygones. In court, his attorneys dropped their request for an injunction against Nestler.

Letterman and Nestler's relationship began, according to Nestler, in 1993 when she was a married Nevada art-gallery owner and he was a newcomer to the 11:30 p.m. time slot on CBS.

According to a statement filed with the court, Nestler said her "entire being [became] 'alit' " when she watched the first ever Late Show. She remained devoted to Letterman through 1998, divorcing and moving east. Theirs was hardly a one-sided affair, according to Nestler. Letterman encouraged her feelings by talking in code on air. "It is common in the television industry," she wrote in the statement.

Letterman's coded comments, including the name "Oprah," told Nestler that he wanted to marry her and that he wanted to "train [her] to be his cohost." Things began to go badly, Nestler said, when Letterman became too demanding--ordering her to watch Good Morning America, Live with Regis & Kathie Lee ("which I loathed") and the overnight ABC news show, World News Now.

Finally, she said, Kelsey Grammer, via encoded episodes of Frasier, convinced Nestler that she and Letterman had nothing in common.

Letterman is no stranger to unusual encounters with the public. For years, he was trailed by Margaret Ray, who insisted she was Mrs. David Letterman. And in September, a contractor was sentenced to 10 years in prison for hatching a plot to kidnap his son.