Oprah Winfrey gave Robin Givens a lengthy apology on her live show last Friday over the manner in which she dealt (or didn’t deal) with a comment made last month by the actress’ ex-husband Mike Tyson.

On a previous episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” Tyson was asked about their 1998 Barbara Walters interview, in which Givens revealed that he physically abused her.

“At that particular moment, I truly wanted to sock her, but I didn’t do it,” Tyson told Oprah, as her audience laughed. The talk show host continued on with the interview without addressing the comment.

Givens, who is a spokesperson for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, told Winfrey Friday that her non-reaction was hard to stomach.

“I was really hurt, really, really hurt,” she told Winfrey. “I just wanted you… When he said ‘I’ve socked her before,’ to say, ‘That’s not right!’ And it wasn’t right and it was painful. There are so many women like me out there… if you hear laughter about it, it lightens it.”

Although Winfrey tried to explain what the mood was like that day in her studio, she apologized to Givens for what happened.

“In that moment, I didn’t know – the audience laughed because they were uncomfortable, and the word ‘sock,’ you think of a cartoon character, they weren’t laughing at you,” Winfrey responded. “I should have said something, ‘This isn’t funny.’ I regretted… that moment. To you and every woman who’s ever been hit, I feel that I did not handle that as well as I should have – I apologize to you, and to every woman in that situation, for not being sharp enough.”

“I hope you accept my apology,” Winfrey told her. “I had a lot of empathy and compassion for Mike Tyson and still do, but that never makes hitting women OK. It’s never OK.”