Ruth Westheimer Biography
Ruth Westheimer is a Holocaust survivor and German-American sex therapist, talk show host, author, and professor. She gained fame in the 1980s and 1990s, guesting on network shows and German talk shows.
How old is Ruth Westheimer? – Age
She is 95 years old as of 4 June 2023. She was born in 1928 in Karlstadt am Main, Germany. Her real name is Karola Ruth Westheimer.
Ruth Westheimer Family – Education
Westheimer, the only child of Orthodox Jews Irma and Julius Siegel, lived in Frankfurt with her parents and her grandmother, Selma, who was widowed. Her father introduced her to Judaism at a young age, taking her to the synagogue on a daily basis. Her father, however, was transported to the Dachau detention camp by the Nazis after Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass.” Westheimer sobbed as her father was carried away, while her grandmother paid the Nazis money in exchange for her father’s safety.
Ruth Westheimer Marriage – Children
Westheimer has been married three times, the first two for brief periods of time. She stated that each of her marriages influenced her relationship counseling, but after two divorces, her third marriage, at the age of 32 to fellow Holocaust survivor Manfred ‘Fred’ Westheimer, was the “real marriage.” In the Catskills, she met Fred on a ski tow. Fred had also fled Nazi Germany. When Diane Sawyer, of the television show 60 Minutes, asked her husband about their sex life, he replied, “The shoemaker’s children have no shoes.” Their marriage lasted 36 years before he died in 1997.
She has two doctorate-holding children, Miriam Yael Westheimer, who resided in Israel for six years before marrying Joel Henry Einleger, and Joel Westheimer, a professor at the University of Ottawa, as well as four grandchildren. She can communicate in English, German, French, and Hebrew. Westheimer attended a wedding in the Bronx in December 2014. Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt, the groom, was the great-grandson of the widow who had helped Westheimer escape Nazi Germany.
Ruth Westheimer Net Worth
She has an estimated net worth of $3 Million.
Ruth Westheimer Documentary
As she approaches her 90th birthday in 2019, the documentary Ask Dr. Ruth, directed by Ryan White, was released in theaters and made available on Hulu. It received its fourth Critics’ Choice Documentary Award in 2019 for “Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary,” and it was a nominee for the 19th AARP Movies for Grownups Awards in 2019 for “Best Documentary.” Westheimer, who had previously avoided addressing her early years and how the Holocaust affected her family and herself, decided that current events required her to “stand up and be counted.” She expressed her outrage at witnessing child migrants separated from their parents, claiming that their plight mirrored her own.
Ruth Westheimer Sniper
She was trained as a scout and sniper due to her short stature of 4 ft 7 in (1.40 m). “I never killed anybody,” she said of her experience, “but I know how to throw hand grenades and shoot.” She honed her sniping skills and learned how to build a gun in the dark. She demonstrated that even at the age of 90, she could assemble a Sten rifle with her eyes closed.
Ruth Westheimer Holocaust survivor
Her mother was murdered during the Holocaust, however, there is no information on the details of her death. Westheimer’s mother is listed as verschollen, or ‘disappeared’/murdered, in the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center database. She serves on the board of the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City’s Lower Manhattan. She was also named a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, a distinction bestowed upon a non-physician.
Westheimer, who had previously avoided addressing her early years and how the Holocaust affected her family and herself, decided that current events required her to “stand up and be counted.” She expressed her outrage at witnessing child migrants separated from their parents, claiming that their plight mirrored her own.
Ruth Westheimer Radio Show
Westheimer’s media vocation started in 1980 with the radio bring-in show Physically Talking, which went on until 1990. In 1983 it was the top-of-the-line public broadcast nearby, in the country’s biggest radio market. She then, at that point, sent off a network show, The Dr. Ruth Show, which by 1985 pulled in 2 million watchers per week. She became known for offering serious guidance while being authentic, yet in addition warm, happy, entertaining, and conscious, and for her label expression; “Get some”. The New York Times noted in 1984 that she had ascended “from lack of definition to practically moment fame.”
She facilitated a few series on the Lifetime Station and other satellite broadcasting companies from 1984 to 1993. She turned into an easily recognized name and major social figure, showed up on a few organization Television programs, co-featured in a film with Gérard Depardieu, showed up on the front of Individuals, sang on a Tom Chapin collection, showed up in a few ads, and facilitated Playboy recordings. She is the writer of 45 books on sex and sexuality. Westheimer has been drafted into the Radio Corridor of Acclaim.
By 1983 her show was the top-of-the-line public broadcast nearby, in the country’s biggest radio market. In 1984 NBC Radio started partnering the radio program from one side of the country to the other — it is presently heard in 93 business sectors. She proceeded to create her public broadcast until 1990.