Paul Newman’s ‘naughty and bawdy’ first love letters to wife Joanne Woodward discovered by daughter in late star’s attic: ‘I can’t print this!’

Paul Newman’s ‘naughty and bawdy’ first love letters to his wife Joanne Woodward were discovered by his daughter in the attic of the family’s Westport, Connecticut, home.

The late actor – who died aged 83 in 2008 – enjoyed a famously torrid relationship with Woodward – even boasting the pair had a ‘f*** hut’ in his memoir – with their romance beginning as an affair while he was still married to first wife, Jackie Witte, with whom he had three children, Scott, Susan and Stephanie.

Now, his daughter Melissa, 62, has revealed her discovery of The Color Of Money star’s torrid love notes – the tamer of which are included in new book, Head Over Heels: Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman – A Love Affair in Words and Pictures.

Melissa told Fox News Digital that some of the notes were too risque to include, saying: ‘There [are] quotes from the letters in the book. I would read the letters and just go, “Oh, this is so sweet. This should go in the book.” And then I would be reading on, and then I’d go, “Ooh, Dad, I can’t put this in the book!”‘

“I always say, “People, read the things that my dad wrote to my mom… [and] take notes, man”. This is how you woo somebody. And it’s just so obvious that he was just [hit] upside the head. He fell for her so hard.

Saucy: Paul Newman’s ‘naughty and bawdy’ first love letters to his wife Joanne Woodward were discovered by his daughter in the attic of the family’s Westport, Connecticut, home (pictured 1969)

‘I would get to a point in the letter where I’d say, “I can’t print this,”. But… It was charming.’

Revealing she had almost thrown the bag away, Melissa said the letters were ‘bawdy and naughty but not smutty’ adding:  ‘It made perfect sense. And I was like, “You go, Mom!” My mom was just a free spirit. She was her own powerful force… She did it all. And evidently, she was a sex bomb at the same time.’

Likening the affair to a ‘freight train’ Melissa said she was ‘not sure’ if Newman and Witte’s marriage would have lasted – adding her parents’ relationship ‘started in a minor key with collateral damage.’

Melissa detailed how her parents’ bedroom also had ‘comically large bolts’ that ‘functioned like an airlock’ – and wrote her belief she’ ‘no doubt almost witnessed the ultimate intimacy firsthand, long before I would have known what to call it.’

Crediting her parents’ long marriage – from 1958-2008 – to having ‘mutual respect’ for one another, Melissa said strain was placed on the union by the ‘anguish’ of Newman’s drinking – with the star going teetotal in 1971.

She said while her parents fought and had ‘screaming fights’, Newman would leave, realize he had nowhere to go and then come back. 

The couple had three daughters together, Nell, Melissa and Clea, and stayed together until Newman passed away from cancer in 2008.

Woodward is currently 93 and is living with Alzheimer’s on the couple’s property. 

Spicy! The late actor – who died aged 83 in 2008 – enjoyed a famously torrid relationship with Woodward – even boasting the pair had a ‘f*** hut’ in his memoir – with their romance beginning as an affair while he was still married to first wife, Jackie Witte; Pictured circa 1965

Tome: Now, his daughter Melissa, 62, has revealed her discovery of The Color Of Money star’s torrid love notes – the tamer of which are included in new book, Head Over Heels: Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman – A Love Affair in Words and Pictures

Family: Woodward is seen with Melissa (R), her and Paul’s daughter Claire (L) and Paul and Jackie Witte’s daughter Susan (2nd R) in 2009

Newman’s posthumous memoir released last year revealed he didn’t feel like a sex symbol until he met Joanne.

The book, shared intimate details of the Hollywood couple’s marriage, including their ‘f*** hut’ where they would get ‘intimate, noisy and ribald.’ 

‘Joanne gave birth to a sexual creature,’ Newman wrote in an excerpt of the book shared with People. ‘We left a trail of lust all over the place. Hotels and public parks and Hertz Rent-A-Cars.’

The book is based on interviews with the legendary Hollywood actor – known for films such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke, and The Hustler – as well as his friends and family over the span of five years in the mid 80s.

The interviews were done by Newman himself as well as his friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern. 

The actor spared no personal detail, at one point describing the couple’s love nest – located in their Beverly Hills home – as a separate room that Woodward had fixed up with a ‘thrift shop double bed’ and called a ‘f*** hut’. 

‘It had been done with such affection and delight. Even if my kids came over, we’d go into the f*** hut several nights a week and just be intimate and noisy and ribald,’ Newman shared. 

Newman also described his insecurities growing up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, where he was too small to play football at school. He discussed how in his high school years he was anything but a sex symbol, and how that all changed when he met Woodward.

‘I felt like a goodman freak. Girls thought I was a joke. A happy buffoon,’ he shared in the book.

Lust: ‘Joanne gave birth to a sexual creature. We left a trail of lust all over the place. Hotels and public parks and Hertz Rent-A-Cars,’ Newman previously revealed; Pictured circa 1975

Affair: The two met in 1953, when they were both understudies in the Broadway play Picnic. They began having an affair while he was married to first wife, Jackie Witte, with whom he had three children; Pictured with Witte

Quick: The couple’s divorce was finalized in 1958, and he went on to marry Woodward that same year; Pictured in 1958 cutting into their wedding cake

Lovers for life: The couple went on to have three daughters, Nell, Melissa and Clea, and stayed together until Newman passed away from cancer in 2008, at age 83; Pictured 2004 in NY

It wasn’t until he met Woodward in 1953, when they were both understudies in the Broadway play Picnic, that it all changed. 

‘I went from being not much of a sexual threat to something else entirely,’ he shared.

The couple’s divorce was finalized in 1958, and he went on to marry Woodward that same year. 

‘Joanne and I still drive each other crazy in different ways. But all the misdemeanors, the betrayals, the difficulties have kind of evened themselves out over the years,’ he shared in the book.

Their daughter Clea proudly shared that though the couple’s fights ‘could be dramatic’ they ultimately ‘didn’t walk’ and ‘fought really hard to stay together’: ‘There were times it was pretty close but they worked hard at it. Ultimately they came together.’

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