The guy behind the highly publicized phone-hacking scandal is very, very sorry.
Accused hacker Christopher Chaney offered a mea culpa Wednesday to stars like Scarlett Johansson and Mila Kunis, saying he had become "addicted" to breaking into the cell phones of stars and posting online nude photos of them and other personal information and did it for the thrill.
But the best part? He's glad he got caught.
"I deeply apologize. I know what I did was probably one of the worst invasions of privacy someone could experience," the Jacksonville, Florida resident told local Action News Fox 30 Jacksonville. "And these people don't have privacy to begin with. And I was in that little sliver of privacy they do have."
Chaney, 35, has been charged with 26 counts of identity theft, unauthorized access to a protected computer and wiretapping and faces up to 121 years in prison if he's convicted.
Chaney told the station it all "started as curiosity" and eventually "snowballed" into a full-blown obsession that eventually prompted a federal investigation dubbed Operation Hackerazzi.
"[The hacking] started as a curiosity and it turned into just being addicted to seeing the behind-the-scenes of what's going on with these people you see on the big screen every day," he said.
"It was almost reading, like, a completely uncensored blog. I wasn't saving the emails to blackmail someone," he added.
Other celeb victims among the 50 or so people whose email accounts and phones he hacked into between last November and February included Jessica Alba, Mila Kunis, Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus and Vanessa Hudgens.
When the Feds finally caught up with him, Chaney confessed that he felt "almost relieved months ago" after the FBI confiscated his computer in a raid and that his illicit online activities stemmed from an addiction, not from any desire for monetary gain.
"I didn't know how to stop doing it myself," he admitted. "I wasn't attempting to break into emails and get stuff to sell or purposefully put it on the Internet."
Mr. Hackerazzi candidly acknowledged he's ready to face the music for his actions.
"I've had like six months to think about it. It eats at me," Chaney said. "When you're doing it, you're not thinking about what's going on with who you're doing it to."
According to authorities, Chaney was able to infiltrate the stars' Yahoo, Gmail and Apple accounts by using clues gleaned from their lives and social media sites to access their passwords. Once in, he was able to expand his targets by using the celebrities own contact lists.
Chaney also told WAWS that he plans to plead guilty to all charges. He is currently out on $10,000 bail after promising a federal judge in Jacksonville that he will not use a computer or access the Internet, nor drink excessive amounts of alcohol or utilize any controlled substances.
His next court date is scheduled for this Friday.