Laura Schlessinger

Laura Catherine Schlessinger (born January 16, 1947) is an American radio host, author, and socially conservative commentator. Once a professional counselor, Schlessinger offers advice to callers every day on The Dr. Laura Program, her nationally-syndicated radio show which airs through Premiere Radio Networks.

Schlessinger's callers ask questions about issues affecting their lives, including sex, parenting and even same-sex marriage. Her radio program often features short editorial monologues on these and other social and political topics, followed by her characteristically direct responses to callers' questions. Certain aspects of feminism are often discussed on her website; she was a self-proclaimed feminist in the 1970s.^[1]

She has also authored numerous self-help books, including the best-selling Ten Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives and several religious books. The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands is her most successful book.

Early life and education

Schlessinger was born in 1947 in Brooklyn, New York to Monroe (Monty) Schlessinger and Yolanda Ceccovini Schlessinger. She has a younger sister, Cindy, who is eleven years her junior. Schlessinger grew up first in Brooklyn, then in Long Island. She has described her childhood in a dysfunctional family as unpleasant, because of extended family rejection of her mixed-marriage parents (her father was a non-practicing Jew, while her mother was an Italian non-practicing Roman Catholic), and what she has described as an unloving environment.^{[citation needed]}

Schlessinger received a bachelor's degree from Stony Brook University and a Ph.D. in physiology from Columbia University in 1974. Her Ph.D. dissertation was 114 pages long, and was entitled "Effects of Insulin on 3-0-Methyglucose Transport in Isolated Rat Adipocytes."^[2] A brief marriage in her early twenties ended in divorce and so she moved to Los Angeles, where her parents had resettled.

Schlessinger received her certification in Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling (MFCC) from the University of Southern California (USC) and lectured at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of California, Irvine, and Pepperdine University. Her MFCC license has been inactive for several years. Schlessinger's Ph.D is in physiology which qualifies her for the title of Doctor,^[3] and her California Marriage Family and Child Counseling (MFCC) license is valid through 2011.^[4] Critics have characterized her as deceptive,^[5] on the grounds that her show's title and content, and her description of herself as a "licensed psychotherapist", may lead listeners to assume that she holds a doctorate in psychology, which she does not.^[6]

Early career and second marriage

In 1978 while working at USC, she met Lewis G. Bishop, who was married but separated with dependent children. According to divorce filings, Schlessinger and Bishop began an affair. Bishop left his wife, and moved in with Schlessinger.^{[citation needed]} They lived together as an unmarried couple, and Schlessinger tried to get pregnant after reversing an earlier tubal ligation and suffering an ectopic pregnancy.^{[citation needed]} They married in early 1985, eight years after beginning their relationship, and Bishop became her business manager. Schlessinger bore their only child, Deryk Schlessinger, in November 1985, when she was 38.

Schlessinger began practicing Judaism in 1996, and she and her son became followers of Conservative Judaism.^{[citation needed]} Although Schlessinger's father was Jewish, she was not a Jew under Jewish law, which dictates that the children are the religion of the mother only. In 1998, Schlessinger, Bishop, and their son converted to Judaism, and began learning to practice Orthodox Judaism under Rabbi Reuven P. Bulka of Ottawa, Ontario. Schlessinger sometimes used Jewish law and examples to resolve the moral dilemmas of her callers. She occasionally clarified ethical and moral issues with her local Orthodox Rabbi Moshe D. Bryski, before mentioning them on the air. She was embraced by many in the politically-conservative segment of Orthodox Judaism for bringing more awareness of Orthodoxy to her radio show. Schlessinger received a National Heritage award from the National Council of Young Israel in early 2001. Some of her expressed views were explicitly religious, and were referenced her 1999 book The Ten Commandments: The Significance of God's Laws in Everyday Life. While her other books stressed the importance of morality, they were secular in nature.

She has received awards from both media and conservative organizations, including the Marconi Award for Network/Syndicated Personality of the Year, American Women in Radio & Television's Genii Award and National Heritage Award, and the National Religious Broadcasters' Chairman's Award. She also lectures on the national conservative circuit, and was the commencement speaker at Hillsdale College in June 2002. Her son matriculated there the following fall; he subsequently left college and joined the United States Army under its 18x Special Forces contract program.

In July 2003, Schlessinger announced on her show that she was no longer an Orthodox Jew. In a series of monologues over the next month, she explained that she did not feel a connection with God, and felt frustrated by the effort she had put into following the religion. Her religious approach on the show lessened substantially after this announcement.

Nude photos

In 1998, allegedly upset that he was snubbed by Schlessinger at an event, former radio mentor Bill Ballance sold nude photos of Schlessinger to media outlet Internet Entertainment Group (IEG).^[7] Schlessinger had posed for the photos while involved in a sexual relationship with Ballance in the 1970s. IEG, known for distributing a sex tape of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, purchased the photos and subsequently posted them on its website which were later leaked to the general public. Schlessinger initially denied that the photos were of her, but then claimed a copyright interest in them in court. Attempts to have the photos removed from various websites failed after a court ruling stated that IEG had legally acquired the rights to the material. She later admitted that the photos were authentic, addressed the issue on her show calling Ballance a "mentor and friend", and said she was "mystified as to why this 80-year-old man would do such a morally reprehensible thing." She claimed to have possessed "no moral authority" when the photos were taken, citing her age at the time of twenty-eight and a painful divorce as factors contributing to her voluntarily being photographed nude. She added that she had undergone "profound changes over the course of my life, from atheist to observant Jew."

The incident brought to light accusations that Schlessinger had been unfaithful in her first marriage, caused the breakdown of her second husband's marriage, cohabitated with him while unmarried, and intentionally bore a child with him out of wedlock. Schlessinger had railed against infidelity, cohabitation, and intentional single-parenthood on her show, but never addressed that these were part of her personal life experience. Schlessinger responded to these criticisms saying "A hypocrite says, 'Do what I say, not what I do,' rather than, 'Do what I say, not what I did'."^[8]

Radio show

Schlessinger's first time on radio was not as a host, but as a caller to the Bill Ballance show in 1974, under the pseudonym of "Cathy" (her middle name is Catherine). Impressed by her quick wit and sense of humor, Ballance began featuring Schlessinger in a weekly segment. She and Ballance also began a romantic relationship, which came to light many years later. Her stint on Ballance's show led to her own shows on a series of small radio stations, and by 1979, she was on the air Sunday evenings 9-midnight on KWIZ in nearby Santa Ana. An article about talk radio in LA said she had come over to KWIZ after being the "weekend psychologist" at KABC.^[9]

Her big break came in the late 1980s, when she started filling in for Barbara De Angelis's nighttime relationship-oriented talk show in Los Angeles on KFI. When De Angelis replaced noontime talk show host Toni Grant, Schlessinger got De Angelis's former nighttime time slot. A few years later, De Angelis left the station, landing Schlessinger the coveted noontime time slot. Her show became very popular, leading to its national syndication.

Maurice Tunick, former Vice-President of Talk Programming for the ABC Radio Networks, comments: "Toni Grant was not on KFI, and was not replaced by Barbara De Angelis. Toni Grant was on KABC, and was replaced by Sonja Friedman in 1995 on both KABC and the ABC Talkradio network, which distributed the show nationally. KABC was the market leader back then, with KFI way back in the pack. While Schlessinger did fill the De Angelis time period at noon, she was also holding down [the] fort on weekends at KGIL San Fernando. When Sally Jessy Raphael moved from NBC Talknet to ABC Radio, I was in search of a regular sub, because Sally had numerous TV commitments, and would require a dependable fill-in. Schlessinger, who was little-known outside of Southern California, became the regular sub for Sally, filling in on her personal advice show in the evening."

Her show was nationally syndicated in 1994 by Synergy Broadcasting, a company she and her husband created. In 1997, the syndication rights were picked up by the Premiere Radio Networks. Schlessinger has characterized the show as a "moral health program" rather than an "advice program." Her responses to callers usually display a trademark frankness and bluntness. Her approach has been likened to that of the highly popular Judge Judy, as she has many of the same qualities.^[10]

Schlessinger now broadcasts from her home in Santa Barbara, California, and as of 2005, was added to the lineup of satellite broadcaster XM Radio. In that same year, Schlessinger was nominated for induction into the Radio Hall of Fame,^[11] but was not selected for induction.^[12] Podcasts and live streams of the show are available on her website. Her show is also carried on a one-day delay at 9 a.m. EST on some East-coast stations.

As of 2008, her show is ranked as the third highest-rated commercial radio show after Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.^[13] At its peak, it was the second-highest-rated radio show after The Rush Limbaugh Show, and was heard on 471 radio stations. In September 2002, the industry magazine Talkers named her as the seventh-greatest radio talk show host of all time.^[14] However, by November 2003, the number of affiliate stations had dropped to 275.^{[citation needed]} The dropoff in listenership to Schlessinger's show has been attributed to multiple factors.^{[citation needed]} Over time, she became more conservative, and her stance on homosexuality and gay rights was offensive to many.^{[citation needed]} Additionally, following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, talk radio became less relationship-oriented, and decidedly more political.^{[citation needed]} Many stations replaced the show with political hosts like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity.^{[citation needed]}

Prior to 1997, Schlessinger was very supportive of gay callers to her show. During that time, she took issue with Christian religious leaders who opposed gay relationships, and said that it was cruel to deny love and happiness to same-sex couples. She renounced this view in 1997. Soon, her monologues approvingly mentioned ex-gay groups that claimed they could help gay and lesbian people through conversion therapy, and she attacked the American Psychological Association for condemning their stance that conversion therapy was harmful to patients and damaging to society. Schlessinger also began citing psychiatrist Jeffrey Satinover in support of her new views.^[15]

In 1998 Schlessinger was in a Costa Mesa surf shop, with her son, when she began perusing Big Brother, a skateboarding magazine. Schlessinger deemed the magazine to be "stealth pornography," and said so on her radio show. When the owner of the store publicly denied that she found pornography in his store, Schlessinger sued him for lying, and claimed that his denial had hurt her reputation.^[16] When the case went to court, the judge dismissed her suit as frivolous but the shop owner's $4 million defamation countersuit lodged for hurting the reputation of his store, was allowed to stand.^[17][18] The suit has since been settled, but the terms of the settlement have not been revealed.^[19] Off the record, lawyers and friends claimed victory, indicating the settlement was "about the amount of a moderately-priced Orange County home" (at the time, $650,000 to $2 million).

Schlessinger sold her ownership of the show to Jacor Communications, Inc., for $71 million. Jacor was then sold to Clear Channel Communications.

Clear Channel's Premiere Radio Networks sold the program to a company co-owned by Schlessinger, Take On The Day LLC. Today's Dr. Laura Show is a joint effort between Take On The Day, which produces it, Talk Radio Network, which syndicates and markets it to radio stations, and Premiere, which provides satellite facilities and handles advertising sales.

In August 2009, KFWB announced that effective September 2009, it is switching from an all-news to a talk format, led by Schlessinger.^[20]

Television show

In 2000, Schlessinger signed a deal with CBS to produce a TV talk show. The deal came after years of Schlessinger stating she would not work with the company, due to its association with Howard Stern. She stated in an appearance on CNN's Larry King Live that she had requested that her show be called "Schlessinger," in the tradition of Phil Donahue's successful talk show that was titled with his last name. Producers refused this request and so the show was called Dr. Laura. With the television show, producers hoped to extend the enormous success of Schlessinger's radio show to daytime television. However, the show was fraught with controversy before it ever aired and it proved to be very short-lived.

Schlessinger's views on homosexuality were a major factor in the show's undoing. In the months leading up to the premiere of her TV talk show, Schlessinger called homosexuality a "biological error." She expressed the view that it was okay to be gay as long as you were not actively homosexual, or allowed to adopt children. She regularly compared LGBT parenting to pedophilia by reiterating that "a huge portion of the male homosexual populace is predatory on young boys."^[21] Schlessinger was frequently criticized in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual (LGBT) media for her view of homosexuality as a "biological error," and for her opposition to adoption by same-sex couples. Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a LGBT media watchdog group, began monitoring Schlessinger's on-air comments about LGBT people, posting transcripts of relevant shows on its website. Schlessinger attempted to repair her relationship with the LGBT community without success. Her March 2000 public apology on her radio show was withdrawn two weeks later when it was not wholeheartedly accepted.

In March 2000, a coalition of gay activists launched StopDrLaura.com, an online campaign with the purpose of getting Paramount to cancel the show prior to its premiere.^[22][23][24] They protested at Paramount studios and stated her views were offensive for being bigoted. StopDrLaura.com eventually organized protests in 34 cities in the U.S. and Canada,^[25][26] and picked up on an advertiser boycott of both the radio and the TV shows started by another grass-roots organization which called itself "Silence Of The Slams" operating its boycott through AOL Hometown.^[27] In May 2000 the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) ruled that her "consistent characterization of the sexual behavior of gays and lesbians as 'abnormal,' 'aberrant,' 'deviant,' 'disordered,' 'dysfunctional,' and 'an error' " constituted abusive discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and as such, were in violation of the human rights provision of its Code of Ethics. The CBSC found similar fault with her generalized statements that pedophilia is more prevalent among members of the gay community.

In response to her comments about homosexuality, a rhetorical and sarcastic "letter to Dr. Laura" was widely circulated circa 2000 on the Internet, that attempted to illustrate disagreements with her literal interpretation of the Bible, especially with regard to homosexuality.^[28] This letter was the inspiration for a character clearly meant to be Schlessinger, who was thinly disguised as "Dr. Jacobs", a socially conservative radio talk show host in a Season 2 episode of The West Wing called "The Midterms" which aired in October 2000.^[29] In that episode, Jacobs was shown to be religiously dogmatic and publicly challenged by the President character for using the Bible to call homosexuality "an abomination" and cited numerous other examples of Old Testament prescriptive punishments that seemed illogical to modern society.^[30]

Not long before her show was set to premiere, Schlessinger was a guest on The View. The appearance was tense as protesters were outside the studio and she was confronted by audience members. Host Joy Behar took issue with some of her comments, and host Barbara Walters raised the issue of Schlessinger's nude photos, in response to criticisms Schlessinger made about a photo of Walters naked, and a past affair Walters had revealed with a married man.

Amid growing concerns at CBS, the first episode of her show aired September 11, 2000. Many critics and viewers found it dull in format and it failed to generate the energy and interest of her radio show.^[31] The biting rhetoric that worked so well on radio seemed overly harsh for face-to-face discourse,and the radical change in Schlessinger's demeanor from her radio persona left viewers cold. The credibility of Schlessinger's TV show also suffered during its first month. The New York Post and other media reported that Schlessinger had used a member of her staff more than once to falsely pose as a guest on the show. A September 25, 2000, episode named "Readin', Writin', and Cheatin' " featured a so-called college student who specialized in professional note-taking. On the next day's show, "Getting to the Altar," the same guest appeared in different hair and makeup, and said she was a woman living with her boyfriend. In fact, the woman was San-D Duchas, a researcher for the show. Her name even appeared in the closing credits of the shows on which she posed as a guest.

In October 2000, Schlessinger paid for a full-page ad in the "Gay Hollywood" issue of Variety as a Yom Kippur apology for previous negative remarks.^[32] She stopped short of apologizing for the overall message of the comment, however, and repeated it (albeit more carefully-worded) on later radio broadcasts. On an April 2009 Larry King Live appearance she affirmed her belief that marriage is a sacrament between a man and a woman.^[33]

By November 2000, over 170 of the advertisers that had originally committed to Schlessinger's show left as a result of the StopDrLaura.com^[34] and Silence Of The Slams boycotts, and the ratings plummeted. CBS directed its stations to move the show to a late-night slot, or replace it altogether. As a result, Philadelphia's KYW-TV dropped the show entirely.^[35] Other stations outside of CBS did the same thing, while others moved it to weaker sister stations. The television show was canceled in March 2001 and last aired in September 2001.

Publications

In July 2006 it was announced that Schlessinger would join the Santa Barbara News-Press, replacing former columnist Barney Brantingham. This news came weeks after an incident at the News-Press led to the resignation of many top editors and columnists. Her columns, which appear on Thursdays and Sundays, deal with Santa Barbara news, as well as general news and cultural issues discussed on her radio show.

Schlessinger has published a number of books. Several follow the mold of her successful Ten Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives, with similarly-named books giving advice for men, couples, and parents, while others are more religious or moral in orientation. The later advice books emphasize religion more than the earlier works, until her announced departure from Orthodox Judaism in July 2003.

Her 2004 book, The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands, sold well despite poor reviews by critics. It was a departure from her previous books, which tended to focus on premarital relationships and children. Proper Care asserts that men need direct communication, respect, appreciation, food, and good loving, rather than tearing down the husband's sense of strength and importance. Schlessinger's thesis is that wives have the power to change their husbands' attitudes by seeing to these needs, and then their husbands will "swim across shark-infested waters to bring you a lemonade." The book proposes that wives have the power to promote devotion, compassion, and love from their husbands.

For several years, Schlessinger published a full-color 16-page monthly magazine but it has ceased publication. She wrote a syndicated weekly column that was carried in many newspapers, as well as Jewish World Review. She currently writes a monthly column for WorldNetDaily.

Foundation

In 1998, Schlessinger created a foundation to help abused and neglected children. Schlessinger regularly asked her on-air audience to donate items for the "My Stuff" bags, which go to children in need. All other donations came from other people or groups, usually in the form of donated items for the bags. Per the foundation's reports, money not used for operations was directed toward pro-life organizations, such as crisis pregnancy centers. In September 2004, Schlessinger announced that she was closing down the foundation by the end of the year. Her reason for ending the foundation's work, as given on her website and in an announcement to listeners, was to support adoption and abstinence.

Bibliography

Advice books:

• Ten Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives (February 1994)
• Ten Stupid Things Men Do to Mess Up Their Lives (September 1997)
  • portions repackaged as Damsels, Dragons, & Regular Guys (March 2000)
• Parenthood by Proxy: Don't Have Them if You Can't Raise Them (April 2000)
  • repackaged as Stupid Things Parents Do to Mess Up Their Kids (January 2001)
• Ten Stupid Things Couples Do to Mess Up Their Relationships (January 2002)
• The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands (January 2004)
• Woman Power (July 2004) (a workbook to use with Proper Care...)
• Bad Childhood Good Life: How to Blossom and Thrive in Spite of an Unhappy Childhood (January 2006)
• The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage (January 2007)
• Stop Whining, Start Living (March 2008)
• In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms (April 2009)

Religious books:

• How Could You Do That?! The Abdication of Character, Courage, and Conscience (January 1996)
• The Ten Commandments: The Significance of God's Laws in Everyday Life with Rabbi Stuart Vogel (August 1998)

Children's books, with Martha Lewis Lambert, illustrated by Dan McFeely:

• Why Do You Love Me? (April 1999)
• But I Waaannt It! (April 2000)
• Growing Up Is Hard (April 2001)
• Where's God? (April 2003)

Notes

External links

• Dr. Laura's website
• Laura Schlessinger on National Public Radio in 1998
• Dr. Laura's monthly columns at WorldNetDaily
• FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Dr. Laura Tells Women: Just Do It
• Salon Technology|Dr. Laura targets the new Sodom: Libraries