Journalist Terry Keane last night said she regretted an appearance on RTÉ television seven years ago in which she disclosed details of a relationship with the former taoiseach Charles Haughey.
In an interview on the Late Late Show last night, Ms Keane said that she had just been diagnosed with heart disease when she appeared on the show in 1999 and had been "under pressure", "misguided" and "misled" at the time.
She said she now viewed the appearance as a "mistake" and that she "lives to regret it to this day".
Ms Keane appeared on the Late Late Show in 1999 and revealed details of a 27-year affair with Mr Haughey. During that appearance, Ms Keane said: "I love him. I think he loved - loves - me very much."
Last night, however, she said that she had panicked at the prospect of a "tell-all" book being published and had decided to reveal details of the relationship first.
Asked by presenter Pat Kenny if Mr Haughey had "forgiven" her for the appearance, Ms Keane said that she had not spoken to Mr Haughey since the day following the broadcast.
After two years in Ireland in which she continued working as a journalist, she then decided to move to France as it "seemed like a good time not to stay around".
"I feel it's behind me now . . . I acknowledge what I did was wrong," Ms Keane added.
She said she regrets hurting so many people and "bitterly" regrets not thinking out her planned appearance with Gay Byrne. "I deeply regret all the pain I caused to so many people . . . innocent people got hurt," she said.
Asked how history might remember her, Ms Keane concluded she had at least another 20 years to change people's perception of her, but she was essentially "someone who loves her family and who is loved by her family".
In the interview, Ms Keane also spoke of her recovery from colon cancer.