Stanford student who had lesbian affair with her dean reveals dramatic tell-all

A former Stanford University student who exposed her secret lesbian affair with a married dean more than a decade ago is bringing the scandal to the stage with a new play inspired by their relationship.

Olivia Swanson Haas, now 37, will debut “Mimi & Jo” in San Francisco on Sunday. The play revisits her 2012 relationship with then-Stanford dean Julie Lythcott-Haims, who was 44 and served as dean of freshman and undergraduate advising.

Haas has described the the 90-minute production as both a love story and a cautionary tale, according to the Daily Mail.

Featuring two performers and original music, the “queer coming-of-age” play follows two former lovers reconnecting a decade after their relationship ended while reflecting on the blurred lines between attachment, creative partnership and abuse of power.

The production builds on revelations Haas first shared in a 2024 essay called “I Had an Affair With My College Dean,” which she says attracted more than 100,000 readers.

In the essay, Haas remembered starting what she thought was a close friendship with the well-known university administrator — which later turned into a romantic relationship she kept secret from friends and family.

She wrote that the pair met in luxury hotels, nearby motels and a mountain cabin south of campus, describing it as her first and only same-sex relationship before later identifying herself as bisexual.

Haas said keeping the relationship secret was difficult for her. She wrote that Lythcott-Haims checked Stanford’s policies to make sure they were not breaking university rules, but Haas still felt the relationship put the dean’s career at risk.

She also claimed Lythcott-Haims’ husband, Bay Area sculptor Dan Lythcott-Haims, knew about the affair and at one point joked to his wife: “Just don’t buy her a car,” according to the Daily Post.

Haas said she eventually ended the relationship after confessing it to her boyfriend and decided to stay with him. She said her parents were “horrified” after learning what had happened, and her mother anonymously reported the relationship to Stanford, prompting conversations about manipulation and an abuse of power.

The former student also revealed that Lythcott-Haims contacted her during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic to privately apologize, and the two eventually resumed limited contact, “although some days I’m not sure we should be.”

Lythcott-Haims left Stanford in 2012 and later became a New York Times-bestselling author focused on parenting and youth development. In 2022, she was elected to the Palo Alto City Council.

After Haas published her essay last year, then-Mayor Greer Stone and Councilwoman Vicki Veenker urged Lythcott-Haims to step away from committees tied to Stanford, schools and youth mental health.

While some former city leaders defended her, retired judge and former councilwoman LaDoris Cordell called the revelations “very troubling.”

“While I was not in a position of authority over her grades or academic status at the university, being in a relationship with a student was inappropriate when it happened 13 years ago, and it would be inappropriate now,” said Lythcott-Haims — while also apologizing to her family and former colleagues.

In May, Lythcott-Haims said she would not run for re-election and would focus on her work as an author and public speaker.

Haas has continued to develop “Mimi & Jo” since winning a Stanford alumni scriptwriting competition based on her story.