Dr. Ruth Westheimer, groundbreaking sex therapist, author, and host, dies at 96

The taboo-shattering psychologist became an international celebrity in the 1980s with her frank radio and television shows tackling intimacy and relationships.

Dr. Ruth Westheimer — the groundbreaking sex therapist, author, and TV and radio host who imparted hilariously candid sex advice on programs like Sexually Speaking and The Dr. Ruth Show — has died. She was 96. 

The talk show host died on Friday, PEOPLE reports. "She was restful when she passed away. Her son and daughter were with her and holding her hand at that moment," her publicist Pierre Lehu told the outlet. "It was as peacefully as she could possibly go."

A representative for Westheimer did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly’s request for comment.

<p>Bachrach/Getty</p> Dr. Ruth Westheimer

Bachrach/Getty

Dr. Ruth Westheimer

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A Holocaust survivor, Westheimer was born Karola Ruth Siegel in Weisenfeld, Germany, in 1928. After her father was taken by the Nazis in 1938, her mother and grandmother sent her away to school in Switzerland as part of the kindertransport, an organized rescue effort that allowed thousands of Jewish children to escape from the country. It would be the last time she'd see her family.

After the war, Westheimer emigrated to Palestine in 1945, where she joined the Jewish paramilitary organization the Haganah and was trained as a sniper. She later moved to Paris, where she studied psychology at the Sorbonne, before settling down in New York City.

Westheimer worked as a maid to put herself through graduate school at The New School, earning a sociology degree there and, later, a doctorate from the Teacher's College at Columbia University. While pursuing her postdoctoral research in human sexuality, she began working at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and taught at multiple universities, including Brooklyn College. It was after seeing her at a speaking engagement that Betty Elam, a community affairs manager at New York public radio station WYNY, reached out to Westheimer about hosting a call-in program focusing on sex education.

The show, later called Sexually Speaking, launched in 1980. It initially began as a 15-minute broadcast that featured Westheimer responding very honestly to a series of sex- and relationship-related questions that listeners sent in every Sunday night at midnight. Her openness in discussing topics considered culturally taboo at the time led her to become an overnight sensation, with thousands of listeners tuning in to catch her charm, frankness, and wit. As a result, Sexually Speaking later expanded into an hourlong, nationally syndicated broadcast that ran until 1990.

Austin Hargrave/Hulu Dr. Ruth Westheimer
Austin Hargrave/Hulu Dr. Ruth Westheimer

Along with her flourishing radio career, Westheimer enjoyed success as a television presenter. She hosted several sex advice talk shows on Lifetime, including Good Sex! With Dr. Ruth Westheimer, on which she would end each broadcast by reminding viewers to "have good sex." She also hosted a series of videos for Playboy.

A cultural icon, she made several appearances in films, including 1985's Une Femme ou Deux, starring Gerard Depardieu and Sigourney Weaver, and in episodes of Quantum Leap and Forever, Lulu. In 1985, she released her own board game, Dr. Ruth's Game of Good Sex, and a computer game, Dr. Ruth's Computer Game of Good Sex, the following year. She was also a frequent guest on Late Night With David Letterman, The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson, The Arsenio Hall Show, Today, and more.

For her life's work, Westheimer was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2019, and she received awards including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, Planned Parenthood's Margaret Sanger Award, and the Medal for Distinguished Service from Columbia University's Teacher's College. She was also the subject of a 2013 play starring Debra Jo Rupp, titled Becoming Dr. Ruth, and the 2019 film Ask Dr. Ruth.

Over the course of her career, Westheimer wrote more than 40 books about sex and sexuality. Her new novel, The Joy of Connections, is set to be released later this year. She is survived by her two children, Miriam and Joel, and four grandchildren.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.