Entertainer Masaaki Sakai and his daughter, actress Koharu, appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) on February 7th. There was a scene where Kuroyanagi was surprised to learn that Masaaki had married for the third time.
Masaaki explained his divorce by saying, "I separated from this child's (Koharu's) mother." When Kuroyanagi responded, "Oh, is that so?", he explained, "I'm very sorry, but I've gotten married for the third time," to which Kuroyanagi exclaimed in surprise, "What?! The third time?!"
Masaaki stammered with a wry smile, then turned to Koharu next to him, who burst out laughing and put her hand over her mouth. "That was a bit surprising," said Kuroyanagi, and while the shock was still lingering in her voice, Masaaki jokingly asked those around him, "Can we please start the recording from the beginning again?"
In a speech at Koharu's wedding last year, he said that the faces of his children at the time they separated due to their divorce were burned into his mind, and that he "felt truly sorry for what I had done."
