Louise Hay (born October 8, 1926) is a motivational author, and the founder of Hay House, a publishing company. She has authored several self-help and New Thought books, and is best known for her 1984 book, You Can Heal Your Life. Hay recounted her life story in an interview with Mark Oppenheimer of the New York Times in May 2008. In it Hay stated that she was born in Los Angeles to a poor mother who married Louise’s violent stepfather. When she was about 5, she was raped by a neighbor.