Nationality American Occupation Author | Name John Gray Role Counselor | |
 | ||
Born December 28, 1951 (age 72) ( 1951-12-28 ) Houston, Texas, U.S. Alma mater Columbia Pacific University, now defunct Known for Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Spouse Bonnie Gray (m. 1986), Barbara De Angelis (m. ?–1984) Education Maharishi University of Management Books Men Are from Mars - Women A, Mars and Venus in the Bedro, Venus on Fire - Mars on Ice: H, Children are from heaven, Men - women - and relati Similar People Barbara De Angelis, Harold H Bloomfield, Nagisa Oshima, Doug Henning, Michael Price | ||
Dr john gray and the mars and venus wellness solution
John Gray (born December 28, 1951) is an American relationship counselor, lecturer and author. In 1969, he began a nine-year association with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi before beginning his career as an author and personal relationship counselor. In 1992 he published the book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, which became a long term best seller and formed the central theme of all his subsequent books and career activities. His books have sold millions of copies.
Contents
- Dr john gray and the mars and venus wellness solution
- Seven ways a woman can attract a top 10 man john gray
- Early life and education
- Career
- Publication
- Other ventures
- Interviews and appearances
- Criticism
- Personal life
- Books and other publications
- References
Seven ways a woman can attract a top 10 man john gray
Early life and education
Gray was born in Houston, Texas, in 1951 to a father who was an oil executive and a mother who worked at a spiritual bookshop. His parents were both Christians and taught him Yoga and took him to visit Indian Saint Yogananda during his childhood. The Autobiography of A Yogi book inspired him greatly later in life. He graduated from Lamar High School and attended both the University of St. Thomas and the University of Texas.
He received a bachelor's and master's degree in the Science of Creative Intelligence, though sources vary on whether these degrees were received from either the non-accredited Maharishi European Research University (MERU) in Switzerland or the fully accredited Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa.
Gray received an unaccredited PhD degree by correspondence in 1982 from Columbia Pacific University (CPU), a now-defunct university located in San Rafael, California upon completion of a correspondence course and an honorary doctorate from Governors State University in Illinois after he delivered their commencement address in 2002.
Career
In 1969, Gray attended a Transcendental Meditation lecture, later becoming a celibate and personal assistant to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for nine years.
Gray writes a USA-syndicated column with 30 million readers that appears in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, New York Daily News, New York Newsday, The Denver Post, and the San Antonio Express-News. Internationally, Gray's columns have appeared in publications in England, Canada, Mexico, Korea, Latin American and the South Pacific.
Gray is a family therapist and a member of the American Counseling Association and the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors.
Publication
In 1992, Gray published his book, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus which has sold more than seven million copies and according to a 1997 report by the book's publisher, HarperCollins, is the all time, best-selling hard-cover nonfiction book. The book became a "popular paradigm" for problems in relationships based on the different tendencies in each gender and led to infomercials, audiotapes and videotapes, a CD-ROM (the first from HarperReference), weekend seminars, theme vacations, a one-man Broadway show, an TV sitcom plus a movie contract with 20th Century Fox. The book has been published in 40 languages and has earned Gray almost $18 million.
Other ventures
In 1996, Gray and Maia and Bart Berens co-founded Mars Venus Institute. Bart Berens was president and Maia Berens was director.
In 1997, Gray began opening Mars & Venus Counseling Centers, where he trains therapists in his "Mars & Venus technique" in exchange for a one time, licensing fee and monthly "royalty payments". Dorothy Cantor, a former president of the American Psychological Association, has questioned the ethics of creating a franchise for what is essentially a therapeutic process.
Interviews and appearances
Gray has made numerous media appearances including Oprah and Larry King Live. Gray has been profiled in Newsweek, People and Forbes magazine.
In a June 2014 interview with Agence France Presse, Gray was quoted as saying with regard to feminism, "The reason why there's so much divorce is that feminism promotes independence in women. I'm very happy for women to find greater independence, but when you go too far in that direction, then who's at home?" He also stated that "feminism in America holds back sales of [his] books", while other parts of the world - he cited Australia and Latin America notably - are more in tune with his basic message. With regard to online pornography Gray stated, "With free internet porn, there's a massive addiction happening," adding that there are "just millions and millions of people... experiencing their sexual satisfactions through total fantasy. The effect that porn has on the brain is like taking heroin." With regard to the rise of infidelity sites like Ashley Madison and Arrangement Finders he states, "When you have impersonal sex.... 'It's OK, here are these cheating wives, men, they want to have sex with you'... So you go have sex with someone that you don't know and someone you don't love... impersonal sex does promote addiction to sex," he adds, "it's along the same line of pornography."
Criticism
In 2002, author Julia T. Wood published a critical response to Gray's portrayals of men and women as he portrayed them in his book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. In 2007 Deborah Cameron published a book-length critique of Gray and other self-help ventures premised on gender difference stereotypes in "The Myth of Mars and Venus: Do Men and Women Really Speak Different Languages?"
Gray was accused of borrowing from the work of author Deborah Tannen and he acknowledges some similarities but says, "I was teaching those ideas before I'd heard of her" and that he did not read her book. Other critics have accused Gray of limiting human psychology to stereotypes.
Personal life
Gray married self-help author Barbara De Angelis and they divorced in 1984. The divorce forced him to reevaluate everything he had thought about relationships. He believes that what makes women happy is completely different from what makes men happy. Gray married his current wife, Bonnie, in 1986. Gray has a daughter and two stepdaughters.