Ruth Westheimer, sex therapist known as ‘Dr. Ruth,’ dead at 96

(CNN) — Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the iconic sex therapist whose cheerful and disarming advice helped educate millions of Americans about sexual desires and practices, has died, her publicist Pierre Lehu told CNN on Saturday. She was 96.

The diminutive, grandmotherly Westheimer was a leading advocate of sexual education for decades, dispensing colorful, witty advice in her distinctive German accent.

“Dr. Ruth” – as she was more commonly known – died while her two children sat alongside her at her home Friday around 11:30 p.m., Lehu said.

Westheimer’s first radio call-in show, “Sexually Speaking,” debuted in New York in 1980 and proved so popular that it quickly became syndicated around the country.

It also catapulted her to TV fame in the mid-1980s with her eponymous “The “Dr. Ruth Show,” on the Lifetime network. Over the next several decades, she hosted a handful of other TV shows in which Westheimer took calls from fans around the country and spoke candidly about a wide range of taboo sexual topics.

She ended many of her shows by urging her audience to “have good sex!”

Westheimer appeared on programs aimed at the general education of children and teens and became a cultural figure, authoring more than 37 books and becoming a regular guest on late-night talk shows.

She continued to joyfully dole out sex advice to the public well into her 90s.

The therapist was appointed in 2023 as New York state’s honorary ambassador to loneliness, a role that was the first of its kind in the nation.

Westheimer wrote a book on loneliness, outlining 100 ways to beat loneliness and live a happier and more meaningful life, that will be released posthumously in September, according to the book publisher’s website.

Westheimer was born in Germany in 1928. When she was 10, on the eve of World War II, Westheimer was sent to Switzerland by her parents. Her mother and father perished during the Holocaust, and Westheimer has said she believed they were killed at Auschwitz.

As a teenager, Westheimer lived in Jerusalem and trained as a sniper with the Haganah, a controversial Zionist militant group that later became part of the Israel Defense Forces.

In her 20s, Westheimer studied in Paris and then immigrated to New York City, where she attended graduate school, eventually earning a degree from Teachers College at Columbia University.

Westheimer was a member of the Museum of Jewish Heritage and regularly funded and attended events related to Holocaust remembrance.

“To allow the joy to come front and center in your life, you also have to feel your emotions, even the sad ones,” she wrote in her 2015 book, “The Doctor Is In: Dr. Ruth on Love, Life, and Joie de Vivre.”

“You have to mourn, let the tears pour out. If you bottle the sadness in, the joy gets bottled right along with it.”