New York ( CNN ) -- Jean S. Harris , the headmistress whose trial for the murder of the `` Scarsdale Diet '' doctor captured the attention of a nation with its details of sex and infidelity , has died , her son said Friday . She was 89 . Harris died in her sleep Sunday at a retirement community in New Haven , Connecticut , her son James said . When she was arrested for the March 10 , 1980 , shooting death of longtime lover Herman Tarnower , the celebrity doctor behind the best-selling book `` The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet , '' the case ignited a national debate about whether she was a woman scorned or a victim of abuse . Harris claimed she had driven to Tarnower 's house to see him one last time and then kill herself , but accidentally shot him four times during a struggle for the gun . Feminists rallied to her defense , painting the case as that of an aging woman being pushed aside by her lover in favor of a younger woman . The prosecution and her critics said it was a case of jealousy . More than a hundred journalists reportedly turned out to cover the trial , which lasted 14 weeks . Harris met Tarnower in 1966 , shortly after she divorced her husband . She was 43 . Tarnower was 55 . At the time of the killing , she was the headmistress of Madeira School , a private , exclusive all-girls school . During the trial , it was revealed that Tarnower once asked Harris to marry him and then changed his mind because he could not stop seeing other women . Harris accepted Tarnower 's position and stayed with him for nearly 14 years . It was during their time together that Tarnower , a cardiologist with a practice in the New York City suburb of Scarsdale , wrote a book touting the benefits of a high-protein , low-fat diet . The book became a bestseller and earned Tarnower millions . During the trial , Harris testified for more than a week about her relationship with Tarnower and the events that led up to the shooting . On the night of the shooting , she said she drove to his house and found him asleep . Then she saw a woman 's nightgown and hair curlers and grew enraged after realizing they belonged to Tarnower 's 37-year-old nurse , who he had begun taking to parties and other events in Harris ' place . According to transcripts , Harris said she pulled her gun out to shoot herself in front on him . When he tried to stop her , she testified , the gun went off . Tarnower was shot four times . The case generated a number of books and two television movies : `` The People Vs. Jean Harris '' in 1981 and `` Mrs. Harris '' in 2006 . Harris was convicted by a jury in 1981 of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life . She served nearly 12 years before being granted clemency in 1992 by then-New York Gov . Mario Cuomo because of health problems . At her sentencing , she denied murdering Tarnower , saying she loved him . After her release , she established a foundation that raised money for the children of women in prison in New York . In addition to James , she is survived by another son , David . CNN 's Chelsea J. Carter contributed to this report .
Jean S. Harris was convicted in 1981 of killing her longtime lover , Dr. Herman Tarnower . Tarnower wrote a best - selling book touting the benefits of a high - protein , low - fat diet . The book ignited a national debate about Harris and the shooting . She claimed she accidentally killed him in a search for a gun .