She was born in daughter of filmmaker Nunnally Johnson. She attended the Brearley School, graduated from Smith College in 1954 and soon married and settled in New York.

Her first novel, The World of Henry Orient, was published in 1956. It was based on her experiences at the Brearley School, and was made into a motion picture starring Peter Sellers in 1964. Her influential article Sex and the College Girl, was published in the November 1957 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, discussing attitudes towards sex on American campuses.