It is said that things happen in threes.
Within 24 hours, three prominent public figures passed away - Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Richard Simmons and Shannen Doherty. Dr. Ruth and Simmons came to fame in the 1980s while Doherty rose to stardom in the early 1990s. Dr. Ruth passed away a little over a month after turning 96, Simmons passed away a day after his 76th birthday while Doherty was only 53 following a near decade long battle with cancer.
Dr. Ruth Westheimer was so famous that she was simply referred to as Dr. Ruth. She was the world's most known sex therapist through her radio call in show and frequent TV appearances. I think in great part Dr. Ruth could get away with speaking very candidly about sex in part because she was middle-aged, diminutive, had that German accent and had such a cheerful disposition.
Her cheerful disposition was remarkable considering the circumstances of her childhood in Nazi Germany. After her father was taken away by the Gestapo following Kristallnacht, her mother and grandmother sent her to Switzerland early in 1939. She would never see them again. After WWII, Westheimer moved to British Mandated Palestine and would fight in Israel's War of Independence and sustain serious wounds from an exploding mortar shell. By the age of 20, Westheimer had endured more than most of us do in a lifetime. That she managed to live her life without anger and bitterness and sought to help others is a remarkable tribute to her spirit. R.I.P.
While Richard Simmons didn't face the same harrowing circumstances as Dr. Ruth did during her childhood, he certainly had his share of trials and tribulations. For much of his childhood, Simmons was obese weighing as much as 270 pounds. In early adulthood, Simmons lost nearly 150 pounds and sought out to help others by opening his own gyms when he saw that other gyms were not catering to people who were overweight. Simmons would come to national prominence in 1980 during a segment on the NBC talk show Real People. Simmons was brash, boisterous, outrageous yet completely sincere and genuinely wanting to help others. A syndicated TV show would soon follow and later in the decade came a VHS series Sweatin' to the Oldies. Simmons was a frequent guest on everything from Late Night with David Letterman to General Hospital.
A decade ago, Richard Simmons retreated from public life which would eventually lead to concerns about his well-being accompanied by conspiracy theories although it appeared a double knee replacement rendered him unable to continue his career as an exercise guru and simply wish to leave public life as quietly as possible. R.I.P.
Shannen Doherty began her acting career as a child, and I remember her from her appearances during the latter seasons of Little House on the Prairie in the early 1980's. But Doherty would ascend to far greater fame in the early 1990's as a cast member of Beverly Hills, 90210 playing Brenda Walsh. Beverly Hills, 90210 was appointment TV during my freshman year of university at Carleton University.
Unfortunately, stardom was a bit much for Doherty to handle and her onset and offset behavior became fodder for the tabloids and she would eventually depart the show after its fourth season. Doherty would have similar trouble on Charmed following turbulent relations with co-star Alyssa Milano, as she had with Jennie Garth on Beverly Hills 90210. Doherty would eventually enjoy a solid career in made-for-TV movies and on reality TV until her breast cancer diagnosis in 2015. She did, however, make a guest appearance on Riverdale following the death of her former 90210 co-star Luke Perry in 2019 at the age of 52. Of course, one can die at any age. Being in my early 50's, when someone in my age group passes away, one cannot help but think of one's own mortality and I'm sure her contemporaries are having the same thoughts. R.I.P.
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