John Gray

John Gray (born in Houston, Texas, in 1951) is an American author known for his books on relationships and personal growth. He is closely associated with the genre of popular psychology, self-help writing that pairs practical advice with simple explanations of human behavior. Although he writes in English, his books have been translated into dozens of languages and have reached readers around the world.

Before becoming a writer, Gray spent nine years as a celibate personal assistant to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation. His Christian parents had introduced him to yoga as a child. The status of his academic credentials is disputed. He received a degree in the Science of Creative Intelligence from institutions whose accreditation is unclear, and a doctorate from Columbia Pacific University, a distance learning school without accreditation that eventually closed after a court ruling in California.

His best-known work is Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus (1992). It argues that men and women have innate psychological differences and that harmony comes from accepting those differences rather than erasing them. The book became a huge bestseller and spawned a long line of follow-up titles, seminars and counseling centers that applied its ideas. Supporters value its practical description of typical behavior patterns. Critics say it reduces people to gender stereotypes and oversimplifies human psychology, and scholars such as Julia T. Wood and Deborah Cameron have published detailed critiques of his approach.

Gray's career has also drawn controversy beyond his books. He sold products through a company that later faced a major class action lawsuit, and in 2019 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered him to stop making illegal claims about several dietary supplements. His lasting legacy is to have made the language of sex differences part of everyday conversation about love and partnership, an idea that experts continue to debate.