Amie Harwick

Amie Nicole Harwick, PhD (May 20, 1981 – February 15, 2020) was an American marriage and family therapist, sex therapist, and writer.

Biography

Harwick was adopted as a child. She worked as a Playboy model and dance performer to pay for her postsecondary education. She studied psychology at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, earned a Master of Arts degree from Pepperdine University in clinical psychology and Ph.D. from the non-accredited Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, and later became a licensed marriage and family therapist. Harwick was a well-known therapist in West Hollywood, specializing in family and sex counseling. She regularly appeared on podcasts, TV, and her YouTube channel to discuss her work. She was the author of the book The New Sex Bible for Women: The Complete Guide to Sexual Self-Awareness and Intimacy, published in 2014.

At the time of her murder, she had started working with Pineapple Support, an organization of sex-work-positive mental health professionals that had been founded in late 2017 in the wake of a rash of adult-industry suicides.

Personal life

Harwick and comedian Drew Carey first met at a party in the summer of 2017. Carey posted a photo of them together on Instagram with the caption: "The face of a lottery winner (L)." Within a year Carey proposed to her and they became engaged. The engagement was called off in 2018 and the split was reported as amicable. After her death, Carey told NBC that Harwick was "A positive force in the world and an unapologetic champion of women."

Death

On February 15, 2020, Harwick was found under the balcony of her Los Angeles home, and later died at a hospital. The initial investigation found that she had been strangled and thrown from the third floor after a home invasion. The suspect, who was identified by authorities as her ex-boyfriend Gareth Pursehouse (against whom she had filed restraining orders twice), was arrested the next day and was charged for her murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait, breaking and entering, and home burglary. He was released under a $2 million bail bond and arrested again after he pled not guilty on April 16, 2020. His trial began on August 29, 2023. On September 29, 2023, Pursehouse was convicted of Harwick’s murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on December 6, 2023.

Appearances