Sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer passes away at the age of 96 | Entertainment and Arts News
Dr Ruth Westheimer, a renowned sex therapist in the United States, passed away at the age of 96.
The media personality and bestselling author died at her New York City home on Friday, surrounded by her family, as confirmed by her publicist and friend Pierre Lehu.
As a psychiatrist in her 50s, Westheimer gained popularity in the 1980s through radio, television, and books by addressing once-taboo subjects with honesty.
The 4ft 7in tall celebrity, with a distinctive German accent who supported contraception, advocated for open discussions on previously hidden issues affecting her millions of listeners.
Fleeing Nazi Germany as a child, Westheimer took a non-judgmental approach towards the private lives of consenting adults, emphasizing that there was nothing to be ashamed of.
Her extensive knowledge and humorous style propelled her local radio show, Sexually Speaking, to national prominence in the early 1980s.
“Tell him you’re not going to initiate,” she advised a caller in 1982.
“Tell him that Dr. Westheimer said you won’t die if he doesn’t have sex for a week.”
This radio success led to the publication of over 40 books, starting with Dr. Ruth’s Guide to Good Sex in 1983, which demystified sex with rationality and humor. She even created a board game, Dr. Ruth’s Game of Good Sex.
In the 1980s, she also championed gay men during the AIDS epidemic and spoke out for the LGBT+ community.
Pic: Reuters
Holocaust orphan
Westheimer was born Karola Ruth Siegel on June 4, 1928, in Frankfurt, Germany, as a result of an unplanned pregnancy.
Her parents, Julius and Irma, were an Orthodox Jewish couple, with her father being a successful businessman who married her mother after she became pregnant.
Her childhood was marked by tragedy, as the Nazis took her father away and her parents were later murdered in the Holocaust, leading her to grow up in an orphanage in Switzerland.
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Bomb blast
On her 20th birthday, Siegel was severely injured in a bomb blast in Jerusalem, sustaining serious foot injuries that risked amputation. Against the odds, she made a full recovery.
She later married, moved to Paris, pursued higher education, and eventually settled in New York, where she had a daughter and continued her studies.
After marrying Manfred Westheimer in 1961, they had a son and remained together until his passing in 1997.
With a doctorate in education, Westheimer joined Planned Parenthood and began her radio career with a weekly show called Sexually Speaking in 1980.
Westheimer is survived by her children, Miriam and Joel, as well as four grandchildren.
