Westheimer, Ruth (1928- )

German-born US celebrity psychosexual therapist. With her radio show Sexually Speaking, first aired in 1980, she became one of the first of a series of popular media psychologists. Other media outlets for what she labels ‘sexual literacy’ include her cable television series The Dr Ruth Show (1984-1991), newspapers, books (such as Dr Ruth's Guide to Good Sex from 1984), and a Web site.

After fleeing Germany when the Nazis came to power, she lived in Switzerland, Israel, and France before immigrating to the USA in 1956. She received a master's degree in sociology and a PhD in education from Columbia University in New York City. She subsequently studied human sexuality at New York Hospital and became a project director for Planned Parenthood during the late 1960s.