Dr. Westheimer on her Documentary, “Ask Dr. Ruth”

RUTH WESTHEIMER, SEX THERAPIST: I was an orphan of the Holocaust. I was sent with a Kindertransport to Switzerland, otherwise, I would not be here. I would be exterminated with one million and a half other children. And I did — I knew that I’m doing something in education. I remember my grandmother saying, “You should be a Kindergarten teacher, you are so short. You fit in those little chairs.” So I became a Kindergarten teacher in Israel, in Palestine, first when I fought in the Haganah. I was badly wounded, but that’s not why I’m short. I would have been short anyway. But I then was fortunate to get to the Sorbonne in Paris and to get a good education in psychology and came to this country on a visit. And I said, I’m here, let me pick up a master’s, New School of Social Research, a master’s in sociology.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So you are Dr. Ruth.

WESTHEIMER: That’s why I’m the doctor, is a real doctor. It’s not just something that I made up.

AMANPOUR: And you’re a fighter. I hadn’t realized about Haganah, how you were really a fighter in the resistance against the British mandate from the beginning.

WESTHEIMER: Now, I have never killed anybody. However, I was trained as a sniper and I was very badly wounded. On my 20th birthday, June 4, 1948, cannonball came into the girl’s residence in Jerusalem where I lived. And I did show that in the documentary and wounded me very badly on both legs but that’s not why I’m short. I would have been short anyway. And I was able to get fixed by a surgeon in Jerusalem who came from Germany, was well trained. So I became a super good skier at Black Diamond. And I can dance. I can still dance a whole night if I find somebody to dance with.

AMANPOUR: Well, we’re going to talk about all of this, including a future dancing partner. But let me just remind people and play some clips of some of your early shows. Let’s take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I’m 22 years old, and have never had sex — I’m still a virgin. And she’s wanting to start a sexual relationship–

WESTHEIMER: She’s willing to?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She’s wanting to, and I’m very nervous.

WESTHEIMER: Okay. Now I understand why you talk so fast.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I’m 18 —

WESTHEIMER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I’m a virgin and I want to wait until I’m married. But I’ve just gotten started in a career and I want to be stable in that career before I get married.

WESTHEIMER: Right, right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I don’t think that I can really wait that long.

WESTHEIMER: Hold it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don’t mean to — yes.

WESTHEIMER: Hold it. Even if the career, let’s say, takes 10 years, let’s say, where’s it written that you can’t get married during your career? I got my doctorate at the age of 40. Now, I don’t talk about my sex life, as you can imagine, but I can assure you that I already had two children, so something must have happened, right?