Television personality David Letterman opens the 67th annual Academy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles March 27, 1995. REUTERS/Gary Hershorn

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Late-night TV comic David Letterman has quietly married his longtime girlfriend, telling audience members of his show on Monday that he almost missed the ceremony because his truck was stuck in mud.

Letterman, 61, and Regina Lasko tied the knot during a courthouse ceremony near their Montana ranch last Thursday. The couple, who have been dating since 1986, were accompanied by their 5-year-old son, Harry.

” ... I had avoided getting married pretty good for, like, 23 years, and I -- honestly, whether this happened or not -- I secretly felt that men who were married admired me ... like I was the last of the real gunslingers,” Letterman said, according to a “Late Show” transcript provided by a spokesman.

But the afternoon ceremony at the Teton County Courthouse in Choteau (pop. 1,700) was delayed by an hour because the family’s pickup truck was stuck in mud two miles from their house. Letterman was forced to walk back in a howling gale to get the car.

“So then we get in the car and Harry says, ‘Are we still going into town?’ and I said, ‘Yes, we are,’ and he gets very upset because Mom had told him if I wasn’t back in an hour, the deal was off.”

Letterman’s spokesman declined to reveal any details about the ceremony, or to give Lasko’s age. Letterman, who was married once before, is intensely private, and is rarely photographed with his family.

The news of his nuptials was first broken by celebrity tabloid US Weekly.