NEW YORK — Disgraced financier Bernie Madoff has told an interviewer he has terrible remorse and horrible nightmares over his epic fraud, but also said he feels happier in prison than he’s felt in 20 years.

Barbara Walters told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Thursday that she interviewed Madoff for two hours at the prison in Butner, N.C., where he’s serving a 150-year sentence. No cameras were allowed in the prison.

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Bernard Madoff, seen in 2009, spoke for two hours with ABC’s Barbara Walters at the federal prison in Butner, N.C. The Associated Press

Prince Charles

Michael Lohan Michael Lohan

Walters said Madoff told her he thought about suicide before being sent to prison. But since he’s been there, he no longer thinks about it.

His comments come ahead of his wife’s appearance Sunday’s edition of CBS’ “60 Minutes.” Ruth Madoff said in excerpts that they tried to kill themselves after he admitted stealing billions of dollars in the largest Ponzi scheme in history.

Walters quoted Madoff as saying: “I feel safer here (in prison) than outside. I have people to talk to, no decisions to make. I know I will die in prison. I lived the last 20 years of my life in fear. Now, I have no fear because I’m no longer in control.”

She also said he told her he understands why his one-time clients hate him, and that the average person thinks he “robbed widows and orphans.” But he also told her, “I made wealthy people wealthier.”

Ruth Madoff’s appearance on “60 Minutes” will be her first interview since her husband’s December 2008 arrest. She says they had been receiving hate mail and “terrible phone calls” and were distraught.

“I don’t know whose idea it was, but we decided to kill ourselves because it was so horrendous what was happening,” she says in the interview, according to excerpts released by CBS.

Lohan’s dad held for observation after 2nd arrest

TAMPA, Fla. — The estranged father of actress Lindsay Lohan will be held in a Tampa hospital overnight for observation, hours after his second domestic violence-related arrest this week.

Michael Lohan has been admitted to Tampa General Hospital for observation, police said, following a jump from a third-floor balcony in an attempt to escape from authorities early Thursday morning.

The report said Lohan came “crashing down on top of wooden high chairs that were laying on the ground.” After a short chase, officers arrested Lohan.

This was the second encounter with Florida officers this week.

On Tuesday, the 51-year-old Lohan was arrested on domestic violence charges involving Kate Major, his 28-year-old girlfriend. Police say he grabbed Major and pushed her down multiple times at her Tampa apartment during a daylong argument.

Prince’s lineage includes warlord

LONDON — The truth is out: Prince Charles is related to Vlad the Impaler, the cruel 15th-Century Romanian warlord who helped inspire Bram Stoker’s 1897 vampire novel “Dracula.”

The heir to the throne makes the comments on an upcoming TV show to promote his interest in protecting the forests of Romania’s Transylvania region.

Charles says genealogy shows that he is related to Vlad, giving him a stake in the future of Romania.

The prince has long worked to conserve the forests and has bought a home in the region.

Manilow fulfills vow

JOPLIN, Mo. — Singer-songwriter Barry Manilow has come through on his pledge to help schools in Joplin replace musical instruments lost in the tornado that devastated the town last spring.

The Joplin Globe reports that hundreds of band, choir and orchestra students looked on Thursday as Manilow delivered $300,000 worth of musical instruments for the high school and middle school.

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