Detroit’s Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick asked for forgiveness from his family and residents in a televised speech broadcasted on Wednesday.

The reason why he was apologizing is not mentioned by Kilpatrick due to legal maters, according to his sayings.

The speech is an emotional and much crafted one and comes as a rather late answer to the romantic messages revealed last week in which an affair between him and his aide, Christine Beatty, is shown thus contradicting his testimony from last summer.

He said to his wife, Carlita, who was by his side: "I truly apologize to you," the Associated Press reports.

To Detroit’s residents he told: "I am the mayor. I made the mistake. I am accountable."

A prosecutor is now investigating if the mayor and Beatty committed perjury when they’ve denied last summer allegations of having an affair.

In his speech Kilpatrick says that he will remain mayor of Detroit.

He said: "Make no mistake about it; since 2002, I have been in charge of the city. There have been ups and downs. There have been hills and mountains and valleys. But through it all, I remain in charge of the city."

The speech was transmitted from the Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ where there wasn’t any audience or reporters present, just the operator with one camera.

The speech comes after a week of seclusion for the mayor since the text messages have been made public by the Detroit Free Press.

A few hours before his speech a group of supporters showed up outside the mayor's office with signs that said: “Leave Kwame Alone,” and “Protect the mayor - protect your city.”

This week Beatty resigned from her job as chief of staff for mayor saying that she “can no longer effectively carry out the duties of chief of staff” and that beginning February 8 her resignation will be effective.

The Rev. Horace Sheffield III, pastor of New Galilee Missionary Baptist Church said: "He is our mayor. We choose to judge this man by his entire character. What the mayor has done is unexplainable but not unforgivable."