Dr. Laura
| Laura Schlessinger | |
|---|---|
Schlessinger in 2007
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| Born |
Laura Catherine Schlessinger January 16, 1947 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Residence | Southern California |
| Other names | Dr. Laura |
| Citizenship | American |
| Education | Physiologist, Marriage and Family Therapist |
| Alma mater | Stony Brook University, B.S. Columbia University, Ph.D |
| Occupation | Radio talk show host |
| Years active | 16 years in national syndication |
| Known for | Advice on relationships, moral and ethical issues, counsellor, political commentator, talk radio host, columnist, author |
| Spouse(s) | Michael F. Rudolph, (m. 1972, div. 1977) Lewis G. Bishop (m. 1985) |
| Children | Deryk Schlessinger (b. 1985) |
| Parent(s) | Monty (d. 1990, cancer) Yolanda (d. 2002, heart disease) |
| Awards | Marconi Award, Genii, National Heritage, National Religious Broadcasters, Office of the Secretary of Defense for Exceptional Public Service |
| Website | Dr. Laura |
Laura Catherine Schlessinger (born January 16, 1947) is an American talk radio host, socially conservative commentator and author. Her radio program consists mainly of her responses to callers' requests for personal advice and has occasionally featured her short monologues on social and political topics. Her website says that her show "preaches, teaches, and nags about morals, values and ethics".
Schlessinger used to combine her local radio career with a private practice as a marriage and family counselor, but after going into national syndication, she concentrated her efforts on the daily The Dr. Laura Program, and on writing self-help books. The books Ten Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives, and The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands are among her bestselling works. A short-lived television talk show hosted by Schlessinger was launched in 2000. In August 2010, she announced that she would end her syndicated radio show in December 2010.
Her show moved to Sirius XM Radio's Sirius XM Stars on January 3, 2011. Schlessinger announced a "multi-year" deal to be on satellite radio.
Schlessinger was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Brooklyn and on Long Island. Her parents were Monroe "Monty" Schlessinger, a civil engineer, and Yolanda (nee Ceccovini) Schlessinger, an Italian Catholic war bride. Schlessinger has said her father was charming and her mother beautiful as a young woman. She has a sister, Cindy, who is eleven years her junior. Schlessinger has described her childhood environment as unloving and unpleasant, and her family as dysfunctional. She has ascribed some of the difficulty to extended family rejection of her parents' mixed faith Jewish-Catholic marriage. Schlessinger said her father was "petty, insensitive, mean, thoughtless, demeaning and downright unloving". She described her mother as a person with "pathological pride", who "was never grateful", who "would always find something to criticize," and who "constantly expressed disdain for men, sex and love". She credited her father with giving her the drive to succeed.
Schlessinger attended Westbury High School and Jericho High School, where she showed an interest in science. She received a bachelor's degree from Stony Brook University. Moving to Columbia University for graduate studies, she earned a master's and Ph.D. in physiology in 1974. Her doctoral thesis was on insulin's effects on laboratory rats. After she began dispensing personal advice on the radio, she obtained training and certification in marriage and family counseling from the University of Southern California, and a therapist's license from the State of California. In addition, she opened up a part-time practice as a marriage and family therapist.
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