Note to Self: Jim McGreevey

(CBS News) Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey acknowledged an extramarital affair with another man in 2004, leading to his swift departure from the governor's mansion and a bitter divorce battle.

McGreevey detailed his path to admitting he is gay in his 2007 book, "The Confession," and today lives with his partner Mark O'Donnell. He has recently returned to the national stage with a new HBO film, "Fall to Grace," which follows the disgraced politician as he pursues his self-described journey of redemption and works as a spiritual advisor for incarcerated women.

Jim McGreevey: From scandal to Sundance

As part of the "CBS This Morning" Note to Self series, McGreevey wrote a note, advising his younger self on living with hope and apologizing for the anguish of struggling with his sexuality.

Watch the "CBS This Morning" video above and read McGreevey's Note to Self below:

Dear Jimmy,

I'm sorry for the pain and anguish of being a homosexual. Even using that word now conjures up dark, sickly and unhealthy images. I know you've struggled to be "normal" in the face of the taunts from other boys, calling you a "fag" and a "homo." You've worked so diligently to prove yourself just another kid at boy scouts, at church outings, on the Little League field. I remember the fear of when you first went to a local public library, when you thought you were a homosexual. And how your heart was pounding as your fingers went through the card catalog to look up the word homosexuality. And being so deathly afraid of somebody in the next aisle, seeing you look up that word. Finally when you found the word, it was listed as a psychiatric illness and how your heart began to pound and your mind began to race.

I know the anguish that you've felt when you read what the church said about homosexual love. Homosexual love was an abomination, that it was worthy of eternal damnation, and how crushed you were because it was the church you so dearly loved, who hated you so deeply. And despite your best efforts to change, trying to be straight, you could never change yourself, who you were, who you are. I tried to seek acceptance at the ballot box, or with public acclimations. Because I was afraid to be who I was. But it did not answer the longings of my heart.

And only when it was thrust upon me, in the most difficult of circumstances, then did I accept my own reality. That I also, I am a gay American.

And so Jimmy, while you may pace about nervously or anxiously or confused, at high school dances and yes, even the disaster which is your senior prom. Not to worry. One day you will meet your life's partner, fall deeply in love unconditionally. Raise wondrous children, and you learn to be the happiest that your heart has ever provided.

In the meantime be patient, enjoy the blessings of friendship, be at peace and accept yourself.