In 2004, at the time that Father Joe was achieving best-seller status, Jessica Hendra, the younger of Hendra's two daughters from his first marriage, submitted an op-ed piece to The New York Times in which she asserted that her father failed to include in his narrative of "deliverance through faith and atonement for his failings" that he had sexually abused her as a young child. The newspaper declined to publish the piece, but did assign a reporter, N. R. Kleinfield, to investigate her charges. On 1 July 2004, The Times published Kleinfield's story, including details of the alleged acts of molestation and interviews with two of Jessica's therapists, three friends, her mother, and her husband. All said that Jessica told them at different junctures of being molested—in her mother's case, when she was 12. A former boyfriend told Kleinfield, however, that Jessica never spoke of it during their years together, and that she was "very unstable emotionally"—adding, "I can't believe it happened." Hendra responded, "I can only just categorically deny this. It's not a new allegation. It's simply not true, I'm afraid."