Sonya Friedman

Born in 1936,{{cite web |url=https://ascjcapstone.com/terms/spring-2020/mdfriedm/ |title=Our Genes Are Not Our Destiny |last=Friedman |first=Madison |date=Spring 2020 |website=ASCJ Capstone Students |publisher=USC Annenberg |access-date=September 19, 2024}} Friedman grew up in a troubled home with her mother who she described as having "never really developed as a person" and her stepfather who was frequently absent. Her birth parents had previously divorced in 1939 and her birth father was considered a stranger to her. She studied at Brooklyn College between the ages of 16 and 20, graduating in 1956. Friedman first met her future husband when they were in their teens on a beach in Brooklyn, New York. She later married a family doctor and they had a son and daughter together. They bought a home in Detroit in 1959. To help support her still-studying husband, she worked as a speech therapist. She later received a Masters of Psychology and doctorate in psychology from Wayne State University in 1967.

After finishing her degrees, Friedman began publishing a newspaper column in a local community paper. She then moved on to AM radio and television in Detroit. First beginning her television counseling career in the 1970s, she obtained a spot on ABC's Good Morning America.{{cite news |last=Creager |first=Ellen |date=February 25, 1991 |title=One final helping of Sonya's advice |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-orlando-sentinel-one-final-helping-o/155565614/ |work=The Orlando Sentinel |pages=D1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-orlando-sentinel-one-final-helping-o/155565654/ D2] |access-date=September 19, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}} By 1976, she had become disillusioned with her position, thinking she was not yet good enough at her work for the special correspondent's role. Instead, she took a job as the call-in psychologist for the most popular such show in Detroit. Briefly in 1980, she was also the talk show segment host for Norman Lear's sitcom The Baxters. A television show for her titled Telling Secrets With Sonya was aired by the USA Network from 1982 until 1985. During this time, she was also continuing her private therapist practice in both Detroit and Los Angeles and maintaining her column in Ladies' Home Journal.{{cite news |last=Margulies |first=Lee |date=December 5, 1985 |title=Friedman To Replace Toni Grant |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-12-05-ca-589-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=September 19, 2024}}

Friedman began hosting her own radio show twice a week in 1986 for ABC Talkradio{{cite news |last1=Toepfer |first1=Susan |last2=Greenwalt |first2=Julie |date=November 16, 1987 |title=On The Sunny Side Of 50, Pop Psychologist Sonya Friedman Has Legs As Talk Cable's New Queen |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=54716213&site=ehost-live |work=People |volume=28 |issue=20 |page=75 |access-date=September 19, 2024 |via=Ebscohost}} as a radio psychologist replacement for Toni Grant. In March 1987, she was hired to host another television show of her own on CNN named Sonya Live, which aired for two hours every weekday. The show featured a number of different interviews, round table panel discussions, and other informational segments on news, business, and social topics. To facilitate the broadcast away from her home, she lived in an apartment in Los Angeles during the week and flew back to her home in Detroit during the weekends.{{cite news |author= |date=October 13, 1988 |title=CNN's Sonya Friedman Loves The Fast Track |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1988/10/13/cnns-sonya-friedman-loves-the-fast-track/ |work=Chicago Tribune |access-date=September 19, 2024}} Her radio show was removed from airing in September 1988 and replaced with other programming.{{cite news |last=Klady |first=Leonard |date=September 3, 1988 |title=Sonya Friedman, 'Money Talks' Silenced on KABC |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-09-03-ca-3100-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=September 19, 2024}}

Friedman published what she referred to as the "last of my self-help books" in 1991 titled On a Clear Day You Can See Yourself. It wrapped up the information from her prior books, with Friedman saying she was "out of advice" and that it was "time for women to grow up". She quoted the statistic that 50% of women were becoming independent and living much of their lives without reliance on men, meaning that women had to take their adult lives into their own hands. She also recommended that all women should make their own totem, a collection of objects that represent themselves and important moments in their lives that they keep in a small package close to themselves. Friedman's totem includes objects on a charm necklace, representing themes of "herself, luck, God, her roots, and integrity".{{cite news |author= |date=January 30, 1991 |title=Short Takes : Friedman Puts Down Her Pen |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-30-ca-471-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=September 21, 2024}}

In 1994, Sonya Live on CNN was replaced with Talk Back Live.{{cite news |last=Carmody |first=John |date=March 22, 1994 |title=The TV Column |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/03/23/the-tv-column/eb9e8f1e-86bf-43b3-ba07-4e20b99c4d57/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=September 21, 2024}} She also published a new book in 1994 titled Secret Loves that featured interviews with over 100 women from a variety of education and economic levels, but who otherwise were the average representation of women in the country, those who were "your mothers, your grandmothers, your sisters and next-door neighbors". The thing that unified the women she interviewed was that they were all monogamous with two men at the same time.{{cite news |author= |date=March 27, 1994 |title=In "Secret Loves" (Crown), therapist Sonya Friedman... |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1994/03/27/in-secret-loves-crown-therapist-sonya-friedman/ |work=Chicago Tribune |access-date=September 21, 2024}}

At the 1984 Awards for Cablecasting Excellence, Friedman won best program hostess.{{cite news |last=McLean |first=Robert A. |date=December 6, 1984 |title=An ACE For Prose |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/294267310 |work=Boston Globe |access-date=September 21, 2024 |id={{ProQuest|294267310}} }} In 1991, Friedman was awarded the first annual Star award from the American Women in Radio and Television. Two years later, she was awarded the Presidential Award of the American Psychological Association and given the America's Women of Distinction Award from the Crohn & Colitis Foundation.{{Cite web|url=https://www.northwood.edu/dw/archives/1970-2014/702_A|title=Dr. Sonya Friedman|date=January 1, 2019|website=Northwood University}}

• {{cite book |last=Friedman |first=Sonya |author-mask=1 |date=2004 |title=Take It from Here: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be |publisher=Kensington Books |page=272 |isbn=9780758204912}}{{cite news |last=Smyntek |first=John |date=March 21, 2004 |title=Ex-metro Detroit shrink serves more of the same |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/detroit-free-press-ex-metro-detroit-shri/155801595/ |work=Detroit Free Press |access-date=September 22, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• {{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Sonya |author-mask=1 |last2=Forsyth |first2=Sondra |date=1994 |title=Secret Loves: Women with Two Lives |publisher=Crown Publishing Group |page=208 |isbn=9780517590522}}Reviews for Secret Loves:
• {{cite news |author= |date=January 3, 1994 |title=Secret Loves: Women with Two Lives |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780517590522 |work=Publishers Weekly |access-date=September 21, 2024}}
• {{cite news |author= |date=December 1, 1993 |title=Secret Loves: Women with Two Lives |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/sonya-friedman/secret-loves/ |work=Kirkus Reviews |access-date=September 21, 2024}}
• {{cite news |author= |date=March 22, 1994 |title=Married ... With Lovers: Wives Tell Their Stories |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1994/03/22/married-with-lovers-wives-tell-their-stories/ |work=Chicago Tribune |access-date=September 21, 2024}}
• {{cite news |last=Benson |first=Wendy |date=June 5, 1994 |title=The whys of two-man women |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/south-florida-sun-sentinel-the-whys-of-t/155765344/ |work=South Florida Sun Sentinel |access-date=September 22, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• {{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Sonya |author-mask=1 |last2=Kettelhack |first2=Guy |date=1991 |title=On a Clear Day You Can See Yourself: Turning the Life You Have Into the Life You Want |publisher=Random House |page=240 |isbn=9780345375971}}{{cite news |last=Creager |first=Ellen |date=February 25, 1991 |title=One final helping of Sonya's advice |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-orlando-sentinel-one-final-helping-o/155565614/ |work=The Orlando Sentinel |pages=D1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-orlando-sentinel-one-final-helping-o/155565654/ D2] |access-date=September 19, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• {{cite book |last=Friedman |first=Sonya |author-mask=1 |date=1986 |title=A Hero is More Than Just a Sandwich: How to Give Up Junk Food Love and Find a Naturally Sweet Man |publisher=G. P. Putnam's Sons |page=249 |isbn=9780399132049}}Reviews for A Hero is More Than Just a Sandwich:
• {{cite news |last=McCombie |first=Mel |date=October 28, 1986 |title=Tough to digest |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/austin-american-statesman-tough-to-diges/155799737/ |work=Austin American-Statesman |access-date=September 22, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• {{cite news |last=McCain |first=Nina |date=November 17, 1986 |title=The Prophets And Profits Of Pop Psych |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-the-prophets-and-profit/155800209/ |work=The Boston Globe |pages=10, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-the-prophets-and-profit/155800262/ 11] |access-date=September 22, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• {{cite book |last=Friedman |first=Sonya |author-mask=1 |date=1985 |title=Smart Cookies Don't Crumble: A Modern Woman's Guide to Living and Loving Her Own Life |publisher=G. P. Putnam's Sons |page=252 |isbn=9780399130403}}Reviews for Smart Cookies Don't Crumble:
• {{cite news |last=Harris |first=Beth |date=June 7, 1985 |title=Beth looks at books – Smart Cookies Don't Crumble |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-desert-sun-beth-looks-at-books-sma/155789491/ |work=The Desert Sun |access-date=September 22, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• {{cite news |last=Somerville |first=Barbara |date=July 6, 1985 |title=1980s Mark Era of the Smart Cookies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-palm-beach-post-1980s-mark-era-of-th/155789817/ |work=The Palm Beach Post |pages=A9, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-palm-beach-post-1980s-mark-era-of-th/155789865/ A11] |access-date=September 22, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• {{cite news |last=Rinaldi |first=Angela |date=August 15, 1985 |title=Self-Help Volume Fits Formula – Differently |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-self-help-volume-f/155790380/ |work=The Los Angeles Times |access-date=September 22, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• {{cite news |author= |date=September 22, 1985 |title=About 'smart cookies,' and other women |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-lucie-news-tribune-about-smart-cook/155791357/ |work=St. Lucie News Tribune |access-date=September 22, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• {{cite news |last=Peterson-Wakeman |first=Lynn |date=October 26, 1985 |title=Coffee table book for 'smart cookies' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-phoenix-coffee-table-book-for-smar/155791432/ |work=Star-Phoenix |access-date=September 22, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• {{cite news |last=Parker |first=Kaye |date=May 17, 1986 |title=Smart Cookies Don't Crumble |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-gleaner-smart-cookies-dont-crumbl/155791742/ |work=The Daily Gleaner |pages=7, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-gleaner-smart-cookies-dont-crumbl/155791783/ 10] |access-date=September 22, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• {{cite book |last=Friedman |first=Sonya |author-mask=1 |date=1983 |title=Men Are Just Desserts: How Learning to Be a Woman with a Life of Your Own Can Enrich the Life You Share with a Man |publisher=Warner Books |page=242}}Reviews for Men Are Just Desserts:
• {{cite news |last=Holmes |first=Jennifer |date=May 18, 1983 |title=Sonya chews up female myth |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/detroit-free-press-sonya-chews-up-female/155784970/ |work=Detroit Free Press |access-date=September 22, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• {{cite news |last=Pulver |first=Peggy |date=June 25, 1983 |title=Bookstand – Men are Just Desserts |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kingston-whig-standard-bookstand-m/155785450/ |work=The Kingston Whig-Standard |access-date=September 22, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• {{cite news |last=Kendall |first=Elaine |date=July 1, 1983 |title=Lovelorn Advice: Let Men Eat Cake |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-lovelorn-advice-l/155785989/ |work=The Los Angeles Times |access-date=September 22, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• {{cite news |last=Day |first=Rhonda |date=September 23, 1983 |title=Author's advice to women: Know yourself first, then him |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-fresno-bee-authors-advice-to-women/155788987/ |work=The Fresno Bee |access-date=September 22, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}

{{reflist}}

• {{imdb name|nm3465058}}
• {{C-SPAN|24036}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Sonya}}

Category:1936 births

Category:Brooklyn College alumni

Category:Wayne State University alumni

Category:20th-century American psychologists

Category:American women psychologists

Category:American women columnists

Category:American advice columnists

Category:American talk radio hosts

Category:American women radio hosts

Category:American television talk show hosts

Category:American women television hosts

Category:Writers from Detroit

Category:American self-help writers