Get the latest gossip

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, TV Sex Guru, Dies at 96


Ruth Westheimer, who brought frank talk about sex into America's living rooms for the first time as talk show host Dr. Ruth, has died. She was 96.

The diminutive educator with a thick German accent was known for dispensing explicit, down-to-earth advice on matters that weren’t previously discussed on-air. She later said that being middle-aged probably helped her be accepted as an expert rather than a sex object, as discussing erotic pleasure was largely taboo on radio and television before her show. During the 1980s and 1990s she was a bona fide media personality, appearing frequently on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and “Late Night With David Letterman,” as well as on “Hollywood Squares,” in an episode of “Quantum Leap” and on TV commercials.

Get the Android app

Or read this on Variety

Read more on:

Photo of Ruth Westheimer

Ruth Westheimer

Related news:

News photo

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, America’s diminutive and pioneering sex therapist, dies at 96