It’s been seven years since anybody has heard much from Thirteen Reasons Why author Jay Asher.
Much like the main character in his hit novel, he’s been forced into hiding after vicious rumors circulated about his personal life, and at his lowest point, he even contemplated suicide.
The California-born writer rocketed to fame after the 2007 book, his fourth young adult novel, was transformed into a popular Netflix series in March 2017.
His newfound celebrity status made him suddenly attractive to hordes of women, and behind the scenes, Asher began cheating on his wife with a plethora of mistresses.
This infidelity came back to bite him less than a year after Thirteen Reasons Why premiered on Netflix, when several of Asher’s lovers found out about each other and conspired to retaliate by taking him down.
His literary stardom became a supernova when their revenge plot conflated with the #MeToo trend at the height of the cultural movement, and his former mistresses painted him as not just a cheat, but a sexual predator.
Though Asher has never been accused of any criminal wrongdoing and nobody ever provided evidence of this characterization, his career catastrophically collapsed in front of his eyes and he was cast outside the orbit of the literary world.
For the past year, Asher has been laying low working odd jobs, including a part-time role at a Rite Aid pharmacy, earning a total of just $16,135 in 2025.
It’s been seven years since anybody has heard much from Thirteen Reasons Why author Jay Asher (pictured). Much like the main character in his hit novel, he’s been forced into hiding after vicious rumors circulated about his personal life, and he even contemplated suicide
Asher’s downfall came when his first ever mistress, Robin Mellom (pictured), who he met at a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) conference in 2003, found out that he had branched out to several more affairs since theirs began in 2005
Thirteen Reasons Why is an American teen drama TV series based on Asher’s 2007 novel
Now, he has decided to speak out against the contortion of his personality into a Weinstein-esque caricature which brought down his career.
Speaking with Kat Rosenfield at The Free Press, Asher acknowledged that he made ‘horrible decisions’ in his personal life that obliterated his marriage, but brought evidence to show that his relationships were nothing more insidious than this.
The New York Times best-selling author said he cheated on his ex-wife, JoanMarie Asher, with whom he shares a son, for more than a decade.
This started before he found fame, but spiraled out of control as he met more and more women in YA literary circles.
His downfall came when his first ever mistress, Robin Mellom, who he met at a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) conference in 2003, found out that he had branched out to several more affairs since theirs began in 2005.
Asher said Mellom spent the next 10 years stalking his social media accounts and contacting women shown beside him in photographs, demanding to know whether they were romantically involved.
Rosenfield wrote that several of these women confirmed receiving such messages from the jealous mistress.
Mellom’s alleged cyberstalking campaign resulted in her connecting with several of Asher’s mistresses, and penning an anonymous group email to SCBWI’s executive director at the time, Lin Oliver.
‘He forms emotional friendships with women, turns them into deeper relationships via phone, texting, and email, and eventually moves them to physical relationships in-person,’ read the email seen by The Free Press.
‘While we do realize that we played a role in our relationships with him and that we are responsible as well, the affairs have caused much emotional turmoil and distress in our lives.’
The author is pictured with his wife, JoanMarie Asher, on their wedding day in the early 2000s
It’s been seven years since anybody has heard much from Thirteen Reasons Why author Jay Asher (pictured). Much like the main character in his hit novel, he’s been forced into hiding after vicious rumors circulated about his personal life, and he even contemplated suicide
The group of seven women, most of whom were married themselves, claimed that their careers had suffered and they did not ‘feel safe attending events where Mr Asher has been invited to speak’.
A second email to Oliver seen by The Free Press went further, claiming that the relationships were arguably not consensual because of a ‘power imbalance’ between the women and literary giant Asher.
‘We believed these relationships to be consensual at the time, but we now recognize that there was a power imbalance that made them inappropriate and harmful,’ the email read, adding that Asher had threatened and intimidated them into staying silent.
Asher has denied this, and said each of his affairs began long before he was famous, some before he was even a published author.
Nonetheless, Asher was outed by an anonymous poster on an online blog who left vague but concerning comments which ultimately blackened his name.
‘I find it bizarre and horrifying that nobody has named Jay Asher,’ they wrote on a blog about children’s illustrator David Diaz’s resignation after sexual harassment complaints against him.
‘I heard about Jay Asher back in 2005. It is so well known, his agent HAS to know,’ another comment read.
‘People want us to name names. They want to know “who.” I will say the name from my story: Jay Asher. Happy, now?’ read a third.
‘I, too, experienced predatory behavior from Jay Asher. . . . When I discovered his true nature, I cut off all communication and tried to warn other women through the whisper network,’ another comment read.
‘He found out and used threats and intimidation to quiet me. Well, Mr. Asher, the intimidation stops NOW. We will no longer whisper.’
Pictured: Asher posing with his book in Spanish before his career came crashing down
Asher’s first fling, Robin Mellom, connected with several of Asher’s mistresses, and penned an anonymous group email to SCBWI’s executive director at the time, Lin Oliver (pictured)
Jessica Freeburg (pictured), who was Asher’s co-writer on 2017 book Piper, said that Oliver was ‘just a coward’ who chose to banish Asher rather than deal with the reality of the situation
These comments could have been from four different people, or just one user.
Asher said his career promptly collapsed. His literary and film agents severed his contracts. The Netflix producers asked him to step back from the Thirteen Reasons Why project.
He had invitations for conferences withdrawn, and teachers pulled his books from their classroom reading lists.
‘I went to my parents to tell them what would be appearing in the news,’ Asher told The Free Press. ‘They cried.’
Asher said he spent more than seven years as a social recluse, unable to get work, while spending the last of his money on legal fees in a doomed attempt to try to salvage his reputation in court.
‘It devastated and nearly destroyed me for a long time,’ he told The Free Press, adding that it was at this point that he contemplated suicide.
‘I’m draining my retirement to keep things going. I can’t meet my financial commitments to my ex-wife.
‘She graciously lets that slide each year because she doesn’t want me to suffer—we have rebuilt a great friendship and co-parent beautifully—but it upsets me to have her continuously hurt by the very people I was unfaithful with.
‘She was the only female victim in this situation.’
Two women came forward to The Free Press to corroborate Asher’s story.
One was among the seven women who penned the initial email with Mellom which helped end his career.
She explained that she felt betrayed by Asher because he did not tell her she wasn’t his only mistress, and sought to seek revenge with the others.
‘You have this man that you think likes you, you think you’re special, and it turns out he’s with all these women,’ said the former mistress, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
California-born writer Asher (pictured) rocketed to fame after the 2007 book, his fourth young adult novel, was transformed into a popular Netflix series in March 2017
Asher’s first fling, Robin Mellom, connected with several of Asher’s mistresses, and penned an anonymous group email to SCBWI’s executive director at the time, Lin Oliver (pictured)
However, when she saw the email Mellom had drafted, she was disturbed.
‘I just remember being uneasy about the entire thing,’ she told The Free Press.
‘I just felt like she had a vendetta, like it was starting to become this attack.
‘The show had just come out, so it was like, how dare he get this show when he did all this stuff! And I just remember thinking, but it was consensual.
‘We had talked to some of the other women and it was all consensual. There was nothing even remotely close to what would be considered #MeToo stuff.’
Two months later, she emailed Oliver to tell her she was one of the seven women behind the initial allegations, saying she still felt haunted by the letter’s wording.
‘My relationship with Jay was completely mutual and consenting. He never coerced or manipulated me into it,’ she wrote. ‘I never felt threatened or harassed by him.’
However, she never received a reply.
Jessica Freeburg, who was Asher’s co-writer on the 2017 book Piper, told The Free Press that Oliver was ‘just a coward’ who chose to banish Asher rather than deal with the reality of the situation at hand.
Freeburg said Asher’s cancellation was nothing more than an act of retaliation, and she was ‘horrified’ to see the #MeToo movement manipulated as ‘a weapon of revenge’.
She resigned from the SCBWI in disgust in March 2018, telling executives in her final email: ‘The misuse of the #MeToo movement in this manner is toxic. And I will not be complicit as I watch it being abused like this.’
Oliver said at the time that ‘claims against’ Asher were ‘investigated’ and ‘as a result’ he was no longer a member of the SCBWI. Asher said no investigator ever reached out to him.
Thirteen Reasons Why is an American teen drama TV series based on Asher’s 2007 novel
Thirteen Reasons Why centers on the aftermath of a student suicide at a fictional high school
‘It still hurts to think about the number of people I considered friends who knew the truth but turned away to protect themselves,’ Asher said.
‘A producer from the Netflix series begged me to stay silent because “rocking the boat” could hurt the series.
‘Some people even reached out, asking me not to defend myself because exposing that people lied about me would hurt the integrity of the movement.
‘One mom, whose son was set to have a sleepover at our place, wanted to know what I was accused of because she couldn’t find any details of what I supposedly did.’
His ex-wife, JoanMarie Asher, also agreed that his treatment has been ‘unfair’.
‘I was frustrated and angry, of course, being cheated on, but someone should be allowed to move on,’ she told The Free Press.
‘I would love it if he was given a chance to move on in life, and be able to start over.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to Mellom and Oliver for comment.
