Miss Universe Forgives Steve Harvey: 'Don't Beat Yourself Up for This Anymore'

The host is opening up about his cringeworthy flub on his daytime talk show.

Let bygones be bygones.

Steve Harvey, who mistakenly announced first runner-up Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez, as the winner of the Miss Universe pageant on live TV in December, opens up about the highly publicized mishap in a special two-day event titled Miss Universe: The Truth on the Steve Harvey show.


NEWS: Steve Harvey Talks Miss Universe Fallout: Miss Colombia Won't Talk to Me


Gutierrez
will be joining Harvey on the talk show for the first time since the gaffe, along with the newly-crowned Miss Universe, Pia Wurtzbach, from the Philippines.

NBC

"This has caused a lot of sleepless nights for me," Harvey said. "I didn't do any interviews until I could talk to the two people who were affected the most, Pia and Ariadna. No matter how tough it was for me, I can't imagine how it was for these two women. This finally gives me a chance to have a moment of closure."

In a sneak peek clip, Harvey gets emotional while reflecting on how his wife, Marjorie, supported him following the blunder.

"That night I went to bed at 12:30, I woke up at 2:30 and couldn't even sleep," Harvey explains, when an audience member asks him what the hardest part about dealing with "this mess" was. "But my girl got up with me."


WATCH: EXCLUSIVE: Miss Universe on Miss Colombia's 'Injustice' Comment

"She was the best," Harvey continues, holding back tears. "Man, you gotta have somebody with you. Somebody to climb down in a hole with you. And she did that. She kept telling me, 'Steve, keep your head up. Keep your head up, you did the right thing.' She kept saying, 'You did what your father raised you to be. You went out there and you took the hit.'"

Unfortunately, his mistake prompted a ton of social media hate, with users even sending death threats to his children -- Brandi, Karli, Broderick and Wynton.

"People don't understand the damage of social media," he explains. "Your kids go through this, your wife goes through this, everybody. There's death threats against your family. I can't let my kids go nowhere. That's difficult, man. That's very, very difficult."

Looking back on how he handled the situation, however, Harvey says that he doesn't have any regrets about walking back out on that stage, despite the embarrassment.

"I walked back out on my own, and can I tell you I didn't want to walk back out [there]," he admits, adding, "I'd do it again if I had to, to be honest with you."

NBC


WATCH: Jane Lynch Parodies Steve Harvey's Miss Universe Flap

In another clip, Miss Universe offers Harvey advice, telling him it's time to move on.

"Don't beat yourself up for this anymore," she says. "Come on, let's move forward, let's just be happy."

The two-day special airs Monday, Jan. 18 and Tuesday, Jan. 19 on Steve Harvey.

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