Dr. Ruth, renowned sex therapist and Holocaust survivor, dead at 96

Dr. Ruth Westheimer was one of America's most well-known and beloved sex therapists, who shared wisdom on her NYC radio show "Sexually Speaking."

• Dr. Ruth Westheimer, an internationally renowned sex therapist, has died at age 96.
• Born in Germany to Jewish parents, Westheimer escaped the Holocaust as a child. She never saw her parents again.
• Westheimer became known for her candid sex advice and good-natured attitude on her 1980s radio show "Sexually Speaking."

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a renowned sex therapist, media personality, and Holocaust survivor known for leading entertaining and culture-shifting conversations about sexual health and pleasure, has died at 96, multiple outlets reported.

Westheimer died at her NYC home on Friday, her publicist Pierre Lehu told the Associated Press.

In the 1980s, Westheimer became internationally known and admired for her candid sex talks, first on her New York City radio show "Sexually Speaking" and later, her talk show "Good Sex with Dr. Ruth Westheimer."

At a time when discussing sexual health in mainstream media was considered taboo, Westheimer, a diminutive but unreserved woman, became known for her informative approach to sex education. Westheimer, known to her fans as "Dr. Ruth," extolled the benefits of sex even during the final years of her life. 

"Talking about sex from morning til night! That keeps you young," Westheimer told People magazine during a June 4 interview, which fell on her 95th birthday.

Westheimer, a Jewish orphan, became a psychologist against all odds

Westheimer was born in Germany as Karola Ruth Siegel. She lived in Frankfurt with her parents and grandmother where she grew up baking and attending weekly Jewish services at their local synagogue, Insider previously reported.

But that all ended in 1938 when her family was separated during Nazi raids. She never saw her father, mother, or grandmother again.

Following a riot that killed 91 Jews, Westheimer's parents sent her to an orphanage in Switzerland along with 300 other Jewish German children, through a protection system called Kindertransport.

"They gave me life twice," Westheimer said of her parents to German news outlet BILD am Sonntag. "First when I was born. And the second time when they sent me on the Kindertransport." 

Nazis took Westheimer's family to concentration camps soon after her departure via Kindertransport. Her father and grandmother died due to the inhumane conditions, while her mother was declared missing.

"I don't think of myself as a survivor. I think of myself as an orphan of the Holocaust," Westheimer said in "Ask Dr. Ruth," a 2019 documentary about her life.

With just the contents of a suitcase and a handful of letters and pictures of her family, Westheimer emigrated to British-controlled Mandatory Palestine on September 8, 1945, where she began a career as a sniper in the Israeli military. She never shot anyone during her state-mandated career there, but she did recover from shrapnel wounds on her legs during an explosion on her 20th birthday.

Two years later, Westheimer moved to Paris with her first husband, an Israeli soldier, and began studying psychology at the Sorbonne University. She worked as a kindergarten teacher to pay for her education and because a professor at the University of Paris before moving to the US in 1956.

Once in Manhattan, Westheimer poured her energy into earning her master's degree in sociology from The New School, and then her doctorate in education from Columbia University. She worked at Planned Parenthood and then New York-Presbyterian Hospital, spending her time educating others about sex.

Through it all, Westheimer built upon her personal life too. She divorced her first husband and married and divorced another before finally connecting with her third and final husband, Manfred "Fred" Westheimer, when she was 32. Fred was a fellow Holocaust survivor and lover of skiing, and Westheimer referred to their relationship as her "real marriage." 

Together, they had a son Joel, and Fred adopted Miriam, Westheimer's daughter from a previous marriage.

Westheimer spent her career breaking down sexual taboos

Westheimer was one of the first on-air personalities to talk openly about sex and sexual health, sprinkling words like "erectile dysfunction," "vagina," and "penis" into her shows.

On the 1980s radio show "Sexually Speaking," New York City locals would call in, asking Westheimer to help them solve their sexual conundrums. No matter the topic — clitoral stimulation, masturbation, or a sexual attraction to peanut butter — Westheimer would always respond seriously, with a signature mixture of conviction and good-naturedness that made her known as one of America's most trusted sex educators.

"I think that sexual activity should be fun and should be human," Westheimer told David Letterman during an interview on his talk show in 1982.

Her episodes challenged the time's taboos and stereotypes about pleasure too. Westheimer spoke of the benefits of female masturbation and discussed sex between gay people, something that, at the time, was unheard of in mainstream media.

A champion of fulfilling sex and love at every age

Westheimer led by example, helping others to envision and build fulfilling lives in spite of unimaginable hardship. Even in her final years, she championed the pursuit of sexual pleasure.

During an interview with People magazine on her 94th birthday in June 2022, Westheimer shared words she believed we ought to live by: "To make sure not to put sex life on the sideline, even in older years. But to keep it alive."

The same year, she released a revised edition of her book "The Art of Arousal," a collection of paintings, sculptures, and drawings that depict eroticism throughout history.

In 2019, Westheimer told NPR's Scott Simon she wanted to leave her troubling childhood in the past, and avoided answering questions about it, with the exception of her documentary. She much preferred to focus on what she considered the two greatest achievements of her life: teaching sexual literacy, and being a mother and grandmother.

"And you NPR people, loud and clear, Hitler is dead, and my four grandchildren are fantastic in their lives," she said.