Renowned German-American sex therapist and talk show host Dr. Ruth Westheimer has died. Dr. Ruth Westheimer died at her New York City home on Friday, July 12, 2024. Dr. Ruth, as she was famously called, died at age 96.
The cause of death was not stated, but the celebrity sex therapist reportedly died surrounded by her family. Besides being famous for talking about sex in ways many couldn’t, Dr. Ruth was known for her diminutive frame. In honor of her legacy, here’s a look at Dr. Ruth Westheimer’s life and career.
Dr. Ruth’s Early Life
Dr. Ruth was born Karola Ruth Siegel on June 4, 1928, in a small village in Wiesenfeld, Bavaria, Germany. Dr. Ruth was born as the only child of Orthodox Jewish parents, Irma (née Hanauer) and Julius Siegel. Her paternal grandmother lived in the same Frankfurt apartment with Dr. Ruth and her parents. At age 10, Dr. Ruth watched and cried as Gestapo men took her father to the Dachau concentration camp.
Her mother and grandmother decided to send Dr. Ruth to an orphanage in Switzerland, believing that Nazi Germany was too dangerous for her. Her mother stayed back in Germany to look after her paternal grandmother. Leaving Nazi Germany in January of 1939, Dr. Ruth never saw her parents again, as they were both killed during the Holocaust. Dr. Ruth lived in the orphanage for six years before immigrating to the British-controlled Mandatory Palestine in September 1945 at age 16. She joined Kibbutz Ramat David the next year but moved to Jerusalem in 1948.
That same year, she joined the Haganah Jewish Zionist underground paramilitary organization. Dr. Ruth was trained as a sniper and scout because of her diminutive frame, standing at only 1.4 meters in height. During the Palestine war, and on her 20th birthday, Dr. Ruth was wounded in action after a mortar fire hit Jerusalem. She had to spend months at the hospital to recover and walk again.
Dr. Ruth Married Three Times
Dr. Ruth’s first marriage was to David Bar-Haim, an Israeli soldier, in 1950. She married Bar-Haim when she was 22. After Bar-Haim was accepted to a Parisian medical school, Dr. Ruth followed him to France. Despite having no High School education, she was able to study and earn an undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Paris. After completing his medical studies in 1955, David Bar-Haim wanted to move back to Israel. However, Dr. Ruth remained adamant about completing her studies. This led to the couple’s divorce in 1955.
Dr. Ruth began dating Dan Bommer, a French citizen. When an opportunity was available, Dr. Ruth and her then-boyfriend decided to immigrate to the United States. The couple settled in Washington Heights, Manhattan, and married in 1956. The marriage produced Dr. Ruth’s first child and daughter, Miriam. However, the marriage did not last long, as they divorced a year later in 1957. Dr. Ruth became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1965.
At age 32, Dr. Ruth married her third husband, Manfred ‘Fred’ Westheimer, in 1961. The couple met in the Catskills when Dr. Ruth was ski towing. Fred was a fellow Holocaust survivor. Unsurprisingly, Dr. Ruth considered her marriage to Fred her first “real marriage.” The marriage produced Dr. Ruth’s second and last child, son Joel Westheimer. Dr. Ruth and Fred stayed married until Fred died in 1997. Dr. Ruth never remarried after her third marriage.
Dr. Ruth’s Career Spanned Over Four Decades
In 1970, the then-42-year-old received a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree in Family-Life Studies from Teachers College, Columbia University. Then, she began training as a sex therapist. Dr. Ruth trained for seven years at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center/Cornell Medical School. Although she began teaching sex education to women at Harlem’s Planned Parenthood, it was not until 1980 that her media career began.
At age 52, Dr. Ruth landed her first radio show on WYNY-FM in New York City. The show was called Sexually Speaking. The radio station initially gave her a 15-minute time slot to air at midnight on Sundays. However, despite no promotion by the radio station, Sexually Speaking began attracting a quarter of a million listeners by the next year. WYNY-FM increased the airtime to an hour. By 1983, Sexually Speaking was the top-rated radio show.
Dr. Ruth branched into television in 1984 as a TV host. After hosting several TV shows, she debuted her first show, Good Sex! With Dr. Ruth Westheimer on Lifetime TV network. Besides her shows, Dr. Ruth also appeared in several film and television productions as herself or in acting roles. Dr. Ruth was also a published author, with over 40 books to her credit. At 96, Dr. Ruth lived a full life. Besides Dr. Ruth’s death at 96, All My Children actress Barbara Rush also died at 97 in 2024.
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