J.D. Salinger's former lover speaks out after 60 years

When famed novelist and "Catcher in the Rye" author passed away in 2010, the public knew nothing of his mysterious life. Filmmaker Shane Salerno uncovered intriguing details of his life while making a documentary about Salinger's life. CBS News' Anthony Mason reports.

[@MetFansince]

So much for those books that were supposed to come out.

[@peridinkle]

wuthering heights at 14 years old. Im 45 and can't read it :-)

[@jrichieander6832]

30 and 15 Yea he hid for a reason.

[@Kigxdy86tt]

🚩🚩🚩

[@KP-ul2ep]

Its disturbing to know his "attraction" to underage girls...

[@Pantano63]

tbf she looked much older

[@christinescott5853]

And the 18 year old that he sought out in 1972

[@Sealwithwificonnection]

Back then marrying young (pubescent) girls was the norm. My Grandma married at 16 and my Grandfather was almost 30. He's also one of the best men I've met in my life. Times change

[@wpwpwpwpwpful]

Soyboy Redditor it was definitely not the norm, just normal for weirdos who couldn’t find wives their own age

[@tylark2817]

@@Sealwithwificonnection your grandma's a victim

[@danielueblacker9118]

A lady of class.

[@Paul-dw2cl]

30 years old and 14 years old yikes

[@voicegirl555]

Does anyone know what has become of his daughter Margaret and her son. Did he leave them in the will? As for future books, his son who controls his estate said when this documentary came out that there are no books waiting to be published as Mr. Salerno has stated in his book. Now he says Salinger has been writing for the last 50 year to his death and he and the window will release them as soon as the can. Goes to show you can't trust Junior when it comes to his father's future books. Anyway does anyone know what has happen to Margaret?

[@lesliegmn3927]

@voicegirl555 From what I know, Margaret was left out of the will for writing a memoir while her father was still alive. Even worse, when she was ill and needed money for medical care, he sent her a fistful of Christian Science pamphlets about self-healing. And when she became pregnant with her son, he urged her to abort. (She didn’t.)

[@timgreenglass]

She became an interfaith christian minister & has taught theology at a university graduate program. She wrote a book about being Salingers daughter.

[@voicegirl555]

@@timgreenglass Thank you for the information. I hope that Margaret has a happy life.

[@austinskaggs4184]

Yikes.

[@ZosiaSamosiaOo]

He looks like Wade Wilson... Also, I thought the former lover was the filmmaker in the thumbnail.

[@Rokvet]

This is ridiculous

[@LeeEricsson]

The book (and the movie) turned out to be a disappointment

[@kiankelly6442]

Ok, let’s be clear though that he did not have sex with a 14 year old girl. She was 18 years old and an adult. He waited until it was legal, which yeah is really creepy but not technically pedophilic. There is a big difference

[@highlybaked8417]

Thats called grooming its just as bad lmao

[@AmericanJohnGrass]

He was attracted to innocence. It’s apparent in his stories. She turned 18, he no longer saw her as an innocent child, he had sex with her and left

[@TheLastKingofHobbiton]

That killed me.

[@felixthelmocevallosmorales7218]

Jerome David Salinger (Nueva York, 1 de enero de 1919-Cornish, Nuevo Hampshire, 27 de enero de 2010)[1]​ fue un escritor estadounidense conocido principalmente por su novela El guardián entre el centeno (The Catcher in the Rye en inglés), que se convirtió en un clásico de la literatura moderna estadounidense casi desde el mismo momento de su publicación en 1951.

[@jrbs]

Oona O'Neill had some connection too

[@morganwhite2176]

This interview was edited with deception. The reason she saw a ‘glass wall come down’ was because the day after they made love and were flying home in the plane together, an announcement was made that his connecting flight, which would take him back to work was cancelled. She laughed in happiness, maybe that they’d get to spend more time together, and it was at that point that he shut her out. He was cold indeed, but they shouldn’t make out here, that it was because he slept with her and was done. He was very complex, and the thought that she wanted to divide him from his work, unsettled him and he detached.

[@alteredcatscyprus]

Um, no. He groomed her for several years, and he very possibly was attracted to children in unwholesome ways. Maybe he was molested himself as a child. But this is not complex.

[@morganwhite2176]

@@alteredcatscyprus It is, there are numerous writings about this moment. Its very interesting the way he saw his work but mostly would get rid of anyone who got in the way of it, including his own children.

[@alteredcatscyprus]

@@morganwhite2176 We still have no evidence that he was working…on anything but letters to more young girls 🤷🏻‍♀

[@morganwhite2176]

@@alteredcatscyprus The documentary that aired went into detail on it. He was finishing something and got the idea that she was putting herself in front of his work, by her laughing when the plane was delayed. Eccentric no doubt.

[@alteredcatscyprus]

@@morganwhite2176 I read she wanted children, he didn’t. He was probably working on letters to new teenage girls. Until we see the work, we just don’t know it existed. Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t. I don’t know. He lived his life like a rockstar, it seems to me. He wrote enough to get fame and status enough to easily lure young women. I think he would have preferred them even younger, but feared for his public image. He could only handle women young enough to idealize him the way he idealized himself. He could not handle a mature woman with her own needs who could see the real him. Not a protector of innocence after all, but a wolf. It was his own self image he was trying to protect from intrusion. He built a kingdom where he could banish anyone who saw the grown man he couldn’t bear facing being, and whose mature urges and needs he couldn’t control.

[@joanlynch5271]

I think that these young women were his audience.

[@bilson45]

I heard this guy is related to dr ed Salinger

[@stefaniebeatrice669]

Genius

[@UserName-br5zu]

Why does she sound like Evelyn Harper

[@LauraMooCow315sDad]

hope she enjoyed "Withering" Heights...geesh..

[@grai]

Fred Sanderson did she say withering? I was pretty sure she did I had to play back a couple of times Embarrassing

[@hellspawned666]

She said "Wuthering Heights." She just didn't put extra emphasis on the "u" in an attempt to sound pretentious, as I'm sure you do.

[@lizipearlvlogs]

She's abt 77 here. Give her a break. The fact that she remembers what book it was at all is impressive enough.

[@PiroKUSS]

@@lizipearlvlogs Nonsense, a lot of old people still have good memory.

[@lizipearlvlogs]

@@PiroKUSS That is true, but as someone with an elderly dad, sometimes he'll have little blooper moments. Besides, all people make mistakes. It's not fair to be so cruel to someone just because of a simple mispronunciation.

[@mikec.9130]

JDS strikes me as a self absorbed punk.

[@johnnypastrana6727]

Mike C. Please....

[@GitanoRenegado]

He just really hated being fake and tolerating people and took his rejections personally.. He wasn't the type to promote something on the today show. It's horrifying for some to not be able or want to have to deal with people but have to be forced to live a life where you have to

[@sturrrdy]

EL Donjuan I am JD Salinger.

[@mrblueberry2139]

Far from it. He never wrote about himself and did what he loved in total private. The media and public never forgave him for denying them his attention.

[@kolbeinngauti3971]

@@GitanoRenegado Yes Pedos do like their Privacy

[@chickenmomma9239]

And where are those books? I know. Ask me, but have your checkbook open. My story is for sale to the highest bidder.

[@alteredcatscyprus]

He wrote letters to you, too?

[@mysillyusername]

He's dead now.

[@jacquiwesley455]

Are you sure?

[@bunnyblurrz]

Or is he?

[@heekyungkim8147]

He died at 2010.

[@normadesmond6017]

He liked them young. Very young. As in jailbait. Great guy.

[@lorivought2546]

She was 19.

[@normadesmond6017]

@@lorivought2546 and how old was he at this time?

[@lorivought2546]

@@normadesmond6017 35, if he was 30 when they first started talking when she was 14.

[@normadesmond6017]

@@lorivought2546 I think it is weird for a man in his mid-thirties hooking up with a girl who's 19. I really do.

[@persassyjackson1688]

@@normadesmond6017 It is. It's what I like to call the "Just legal enough that they're fair game AND still wet behind the ears" tactic

[@zemxxi2765]

Thankfully, the recent show Jessica Jones filled in all of the gaps on Salinger's life. He even thought superpowered people were phonies too. Jealous git!

[@shkodranalbi]

Why not leave the guy alone?

[@lsly4838]

Aur naur 😟

[@saltycrotchwhiff3946]

Sure, a woman broke the oath

[@charlottelelele1668]

what do you mean by that?