Dr. Ruth Westheimer was called a lot of things in her life. Pioneer. Force of nature. The female Freud. Scientist. Psychologist. Therapist. Sexpert. Bestselling author. Pint-sized powerhouse. Non-radical feminist. Media darling. Pop culture icon. And of course, the nickname that made her famous: Dr. Ruth.
But when she was asked which title she prefers above all others, she simply said, “Omi.”
Indeed, the 96-year-old was “Omi” to four grandchildren, ranging in age from 19 to 30, and she sang their praises at every opportunity. In an exclusive interview with From The Grapevine, Westheimer, a German immigrant who fled Nazi occupation, said that becoming a grandmother was one of her proudest accomplishments.
“When I look at (my grandchildren), having been an orphan of the Holocaust, I know that Hitler and the Nazis are dead, and my grandchildren are thriving,” she told us.
Westheimer never shied away from taboo topics; it’s those topics, in fact, that made her famous. As a radio host in the 1980s, she was both lauded and criticized for dishing out frank and unabashed advice about sex, intimacy and relationships. The show catapulted her to a career that’s branded her one of the most famous sex therapists in the world.
In the 2019 documentary “Ask Dr. Ruth” that’s streaming on Hulu, Westheimer revealed a few facts about herself that, despite her candid and blunt personality, many people didn’t know.
Ruth isn’t her real first name
Westheimer was born Karola Ruth Siegel in Frankfurt, Germany. She commonly went by her middle name, because she thought “Karola” sounded too German.
She was a military veteran
When Westheimer moved to Israel, she joined a military branch where trained as a sniper, but didn’t have to use the training, which she considers a blessing.
She lived in five countries
After leaving Germany at age 10, Westheimer lived in a children’s home in Switzerland. When she turned 18, she moved to Israel, where she met her first husband. The two moved to Paris, France, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology. After getting a divorce, she emigrated to the United States.
She spoke four languages
That’s German, Hebrew, French and English.
She lived in the same New York apartment for over 55 years
It’s a small, modest three-bedroom in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in Manhattan. She moved there after she left France, and she’s never wanted to leave.
She had five doctorate degrees
One is from Columbia University, where she took night classes to earn an Ed.D. in family and sex counseling in 1970. After she rose to fame, three institutions – Trinity College, Hebrew Union College seminary, Lehman College of the City University of New York, and Ben-Gurion University in Israel – awarded her honorary doctorates. In the latter university, she now has a scholarship fund named after her.
She wrote 45 books
And one of them is “Sex for Dummies.” The original edition, published in 1995, has been revised four times. Most recently, she published a children’s book, “Crocodile, You’re Beautiful! Embracing Our Strengths and Ourselves,” in August 2019.
There’s an Off Broadway play about her life
The play “Becoming Dr. Ruth” opened in 2013, with actress Debra Jo Rupp playing the role of Dr. Ruth. The play chronicled her life from fleeing Germany to coming of age in the Israeli countryside to her struggles as a single mother.
She never gave sex advice to her kids – or grandkids
But she did leave her books around the house in case they had questions.
She was married three times
The third one, to Fred Westheimer, lasted 36 years before he died in 1997.
She used to think she was too short to find love
At 4-foot-7, Dr. Ruth was quite insecure about her stature in her younger years “Nobody is going to want me because I’m short and ugly,” she wrote in her diary in the 1940s. Now, world leaders and movie stars lean in or crouch down to hear her speak, knowing she’d say something wise and witty.
Originally Published Jul 20, 2021 12:03AM EDT
