Sterling: I wish I had paid her off

ByABC News
May 2, 2014, 6:33 PM

— -- Donald Sterling, the disgraced owner of the Los Angeles Clippers who has been banned for life by the NBA for racial remarks, spoke Friday for the first time since the scandal broke.

"I wish I had just paid her off," Sterling told DuJour.com, referring to ex-girlfriend V. Stiviano, the woman behind the audio tape published by TMZ on which Sterling made disparaging racial remarks.

Stiviano was the woman Sterling was talking to on the recording.

According to the person who conducted the interview, Sterling "expressed remorse" but is limiting further comments to interviews with Barbara Walters and the NBA.

Sterling had kept a low profile since NBA commissioner Adam Silver banned him for life and fined him $2.5 million on Tuesday. Silver has urged the league's owners to force a sale of the Clippers.

Sources have confirmed to ESPN.com that Sterling also is battling cancer.

The news was first reported late Thursday night by the New York Post. The Post, citing sources, reported that the 80-year-old Sterling has been battling prostate cancer for an extended period of time.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.