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Simone

Simone Bienne

Simone Bienne is a British Psychosexual and Relationship Therapist, who joined the cast of Loveline from October, 2011 to November 2012. She currently works in private practice in Los Angeles and London.

Background[]

Simone was born in London, UK to immigrant parents. Her father is an Indian physician, and her mother a Swiss-Czech fashion designer. She was educated in Machester and graduated with honors from the University of Manchester in 1995 with a Bachelors in Politics and History. She married Simon Monjack in November 2001, but separated from him five months later, finalizing the divorce in 2006. She successfully sued him in 2007 for $63,000 that he was supposed to have paid her in the divorce.

Credentials[]

  • Accredited, Licensed Member of College of Sex and Relationship Therapy (COSRT). United Kingdom.
  • Professional Member of the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists, (AASECT). United States.
  • Professional Member of the Society of the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS). United States.

Time On Loveline[]

Simone started on Loveline in October 2011 to be a third host, one of many changes that occurred during the Courtside Entertainment Group shift. Many fans were pleased to have a female perspective added to the show on a full time basis, given that half of the callers are and issues on the show are female, yet the full time co-hosts had been all male up to that point. Simone also added a certain element of sensitivity and tact, which acted as a foil to Dr. Drew's very technical, matter-of-fact approach that sometimes went over caller's heads. On the other hand, some fans were annoyed by her occasional tendency to quote flawed studies or repeat discredited pop-psych theories that seem to have been taken from popular women's magazines.

Because Simone was hired during a major format change that included several unpopular alterations to the show, a few fans fell prey to a cum hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy (Latin for "occurring with this, therefore occurring because of this"), wherein they incorrectly blamed her for the changes, though ultimately they made up only a small minority of the listenership when compared with the actual number of Loveline listeners. In a podcast many years later, Simone and Drew both stated that the social media response was quite normal and that haters are always part of such things, so it had no real effect on the show.

Departure[]

Simone departed from the show November 9th 2012.  No official explanation was given, but on the This Life podcast in 2016, Simone and Drew discussed having read this very wiki page and clarified that she was fired rather abruptly by Norman Pattiz, Courtside's founder and chairman, who was the same person who had hired her. While neither Drew nor Simone knew explicitly why, both believed the reason was financial in nature.[1] Drew and Simone remained friendly after Loveline and have worked on several other projects together.

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