Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a sex therapist who became a sensation in popular culture in the 1980s due to her candid and amusing approach to human sexuality, has passed away. Her age was 96.
Pierre Lehu, the publicist for the former radio talk show host, confirmed to People on Saturday, July 13, that the deceased individual passed away on Friday, July 12. Westheimer and Lehu had collaborated on publication of books.
She had a peaceful state of mind when she passed away. “At that very moment, her son and daughter were there with her, and they were holding her hand,” Lehu adds, adding, “It was as peacefully as she could possibly go.” She had reached the age of 96.
He proceeded to speak about his deceased companion, “It’s amazing, there was stuff still going on in her life [she has a book coming out this fall with Allison Gilbert] and someone wants to make a biopic about her.”
Lehu did not disclose any more information on the cause of passing of Westheimer; however, the New York Times and The Washington Post have reported that she passed away in the comfort of her own home in New York City.
When Westheimer was interviewed by PEOPLE in June 2023, she discussed the aspects of her life that astonished her the most.
When she was celebrating her 95th birthday, she commented, “That I became famous.” “That I am blessed with a wonderful daughter, son-in-law, son and daughter-in-law, as well as four wonderful grandchildren,” she said.
When Karola Ruth Siegel was born on June 4, 1928 in Wiesenfeld, Germany, she was given the name Westheimer.
In the aftermath of the Holocaust, Westheimer, a Jewish immigrant, referred to herself as “an orphan of the Holocaust.” She had lost her whole family during World War II. In the year 1938, the Nazis abducted her father, Julius, and carried him away. Approximately six weeks later, her mother and grandmother arranged for her to go to Switzerland on a train as part of the “kindertransport,” which was an orchestrated evacuation of thousands of Jewish children from Germany.
After the war, she moved to Palestine in 1945, where she started using her middle name, Ruth, and received training to become a sniper for the Israeli Army. Both of these events took place after the war.
After that, she relocated to New York City, as well as Paris, where she attended the Sorbonne University to further her studies in psychology. Manfred Westheimer, a fellow Jewish immigrant and a telecommunications engineer, was the person she met in 1961. She had been married twice and divorced twice before. During their 36-year marriage, she referred to their partnership as her “real marriage.” He also became her third spouse.
During the time that she was working toward her post-doctoral research in human sexuality, she started working at Planned Parenthood, where she was responsible for providing training to family planning providers.
1980 was the year when she received the offer that would forever alter the course of her life.
After listening to Westheimer speak, Betty Elam, the community relations manager at WYNY, came up with the concept of a call-in program that would focus on sexuality education. What was initially a fifteen-minute début after midnight eventually evolved into the live call-in program Sexually Speaking, which ran for 10 years and resulted in a number of television and radio shows with a similar format.
Westheimer was well-known for providing answers that were both straightforward and often punctuated with comedy. In 2019, she said, “When people needed to learn about oral sex, I would say go buy an ice cream cone and practice,” and she was referring to the practice of oral sex.
By speaking, teaching, and producing books in her latter years, she maintained her relevance in the field. The work that Westheimer has done over the years has earned her a number of accolades, including an honorary doctorate degree from Trinity College in 2004 and the Medal for Distinguished Service from the Teacher’s College at Columbia University. Additionally, in 2019, the highly anticipated film Ask Dr. Ruth, which is based on her incredible life, made its debut in cinemas.
The only people who will remember Westheimer are her two children, Miriam and Joel, as well as her four grandkids. Since 1997, her spouse, Manfred, has passed away.
“With such a difficult beginning like me, having been an orphan at the age of 10 years old — no parents, no brothers and sisters — all I feel is gratefulness,” she had previously disclosed to PEOPLE.