Judith B. Newman (born 1961) is an American journalist and author. She writes about entertainment, relationships, parenthood, business, beauty, books, science, and popular culture. Her work has appeared in more than fifty periodicals, including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', '' Vanity Fair,'' '' Harper's'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', '' Allure'' (where she served as Contributing Editor) and ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

''. Newman's books include the memoirs ''You Make Me Feel Like an Unnatural Woman: The Diary of a New (Older) Mother'' and ''To Siri With Love.''

Early life and education

Newman was raised in

Scarsdale, New York Scarsdale is a town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several village ...

. Her father, Edmund Newman, was a district sales manager for the

Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company The Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company was an American brewery based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and once the largest producer of beer in the United States. Its namesake beer, Schlitz (), was known as "The beer that made Milwaukee famous" and was adve ...

, and her mother, Frances (''née'' Fiorillo; 1926–2011), was a physician. Newman graduated from

Scarsdale High School Scarsdale High School (SHS) is a public high school in Scarsdale, New York, United States, a coterminous town and village in Westchester County, New York. It is a part of the Scarsdale Union Free School District. The school was founded in 1917. ...

in 1977 and received a bachelor's degree from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1981. She received a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in English and

Comparative Literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1984.

Journalism career

Since the 1980s, Newman has written for magazines, newspapers and periodicals. Her articles include: "At Your Disposal – The Funeral Industry Prepares for Boom Times" ('' Harper's'', 1997), "I Have Seen Cancers Disappear" (''

Discover Discover may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Discover'' (album), a Cactus Jack album * ''Discover'' (magazine), an American science magazine Businesses and brands * DISCover, the ''Digital Interactive Systems Corporation'' * Di ...

,'' 2001), "Chasing Britney" ('' Allure,'' 2007), "How the Kardashians Made $65 Million Last Year" (''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', 2011) and "Making Waves with No Apology" (''

,'' 2011). Newman has been described as "one of the most successful freelance journalists today". Her article "I Have Seen Cancers Disappear" was selected for inclusion in ''

The Best American Science and Nature Writing ''The Best American Science and Nature Writing'' is a yearly anthology of popular science magazine articles published in the United States. It was started in 2000 and is part of ''The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin. Articles ...

''. On the other hand, Newman's writing has found critics: a review in ''

Jezebel Jezebel (;"Jezebel"
(US) and ) was the daughte ...

'' of her article "Chasing Britney" commented that she squandered "an opportunity to question the common wisdom that it is ''Britney''

pears Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the po ...

who is insane, not those around her." Newman has written a regular column for ''

Ladies Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In 18 ...

'' ("My Life as a Mom") and has written sex columns for '' Mademoiselle'' and '' American Health.'' She wrote a relationship column for the defunct teen girls' magazine '' YM'', and an etiquette column ("Manner Up") for ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

''. Newman contributes book reviews to ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' and ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

.'' ''Times Book Review'' editor

Pamela Paul Pamela Paul (born 1970/1971) is an American columnist, journalist, editor, and author. Since 2022, she has been an op-ed writer for ''The New York Times''. From 2013 to 2022, she was the editor of ''The New York Times Book Review'',Vanity Fair'' story about the downfall of

Rosie O'Donnell Roseann O'Donnell (born March 21, 1962) is an American comedian, television producer, actress, author, and television personality. She began her comedy career as a teenager and received her breakthrough on the television series ''Star Search'' ...

's '' Rosie'' magazine, O'Donnell, from the witness stand during a trial, stated that Newman was like "the nebbishy Jewish girl who worked for the audiovisual club in high school." Publisher

Judith Regan Judith Regan (born August 17, 1953, in Massachusetts) is an American editor, producer, book publisher, and television and radio talk show host. She is the head of Regan Arts. Early life and education Regan grew up in Fitchburg, Massachusetts and B ...

criticized Newman following the publication of Newman's 2005 story, "The Devil and Miss Regan," in ''Vanity Fair''. ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' wrote that "Regan would happily knock the teeth out of Judith Newman." In January 2014, Newman's essay "Wikipedia, What Does Judith Newman Have to Do to Get a Page?" appeared in ''

''. In the essay, Newman questioned Wikipedia's editorial policies, including its criteria for selecting and deleting articles, and requested that Wikipedia editors help with creating an article about her. That same day, a Wikipedia article was written on Newman, who chronicled her "Wiki-Validation" in a second ''New York Times'' column a week later: "Wikipedia may be a haven for cranks and pedants, but it is also amazing," Newman wrote. "Why some guy named SSSilvers , who describes his interests as 'light opera, musical theater and global warming,' would take hours out of his day to noodle with a stranger's page is mysterious, and yet touching."

Books

In 1993, Newman wrote ''Bath (Chic Simple)'', and the following year she wrote ''Body (Chic Simple)'', both for the Chic Simple Components series. In 1994, she also authored ''Tell Me Another One: A Woman's Guide to Men's Classic Lines'', which focuses on male

pick-up line A pick-up line or chat-up line is a conversation opener with the intent of engaging a person for romance or dating. As overt and sometimes humorous displays of romantic interest, pick-up lines advertise the wit of their speakers to their target ...

s. The idea for the book came to Newman after she was jilted. The next year, Newman wrote ''Parents from Hell: Unexpurgated Tales of Good Intentions Gone Awry''. In 1996, Newman co-wrote ''Just Between Us Girls: Secrets About Men from the Madam Who Knows'' with "Mayflower Madam"

Sydney Biddle Barrows Sydney Biddle Barrows (born January 14, 1952) is an American businesswoman and socialite who became known as an escort agency owner under the name Sheila Devin; she later became known as "The Mayflower Madam". She has since become a management co ...

. In 2013, she collaborated with

Samantha Geimer On March 10, 1977, then-43-year-old film director Roman Polanski was arrested and charged in Los Angeles with six offenses against Samantha Gailey (now Geimer), a 13-year-old girl – unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, rape by use of drugs ...

on ''The Girl: A Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski''. A reviewer in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' wrote, " 'The Girl''might be the most important and invaluable book of the century so far ... an emotional rollercoaster ... smart and articulate". Newman's memoir, ''You Make Me Feel Like An Unnatural Woman: Diary of a New (Older) Mother'', was published in 2004. It details the challenges of getting pregnant at the age of 40, after "seven years of science," $70,000, and nine months of nausea. A ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' review noted: "While humorless and/or politically correct readers may bristle at Newman's antics, everyone else will be rolling in the aisles, reading out funny parts to perfect strangers." In 2017, HarperCollins released Newman's ''To Siri with Love'', a collection of stories about life with her autistic son, Gus. The book was inspired by her 2014 ''New York Times'' essay of the same name. ''To Siri With Love'' was a ''New York Times'' notable book of 2017 and was positively reviewed by the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', in which it is called "Newman's love letter to her son". Newman's statement in the book that she intended to gain medical power of attorney over her son to involuntarily sterilize him, and other disclosures that members of the autism community felt were an invasion of her son's privacy, led to them calling for a boycott of the book.

Personal life

Newman lives in New York City. She has twin sons born in 2001. Newman and her husband, opera singer John Snowdon, maintained separate apartments in Manhattan for the duration of their 25-year marriage. He died in June 2018.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Newman, Judith 1961 births Living people American memoirists Columbia University alumni People from Scarsdale, New York Wesleyan University alumni Writers from New York (state) American columnists American women memoirists American women columnists Scarsdale High School alumni 21st-century American women