Marlo Thomas reminisced about the good old days and focused on love in the weeks leading up to her husband Phil Donahue’s death . The “That Girl” actress, 86, was married to the talk show legend for 44 years before he passed away on Sunday night following a long illness at 88. But weeks before his death, Thomas shared a loving throwback photo with Donahue and several meaningful quotes on her Instagram page, seemingly knowing the end could be near.
On July 25, the star shared a sunset shot of her squeezing her husband tight. The photo was taken over a decade ago, but she told her followers that they love watching the sun go down together all these years later. “Here’s a sweet #throwback! Phil and me aboard the Mugsy, summer of 2009! It’s hard to believe this was 15 years ago, it feels like yesterday.
We still love to watch the sunset whether on land or water!” she captioned the smiling picture, which would be her last Instagram post with her husband before his death. On August 7, Thomas shared a quote by bestselling author Rachel Macy Stafford. “Let love start this day.
Let love end this day. Let love transform the minutes in between,” it read. The actress used the hashtag “quote of the day” and included a photo of two people hugging.
Less than a week before Donahue’s passing , his wife — who played Jennifer Aniston’s TV mom in “Friends” — posted another meaningful quote from Tennessee Williams. “We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love,” Thomas wrote, again using the “quote of the day” hashtag. Thomas confirmed her husband’s death in an emotional Instagram post on Monday, calling him her “sweetheart” and revealing she was taking a much-needed social media hiatus to grieve.
“I’m sure by now you’ve heard the very sad news that I lost my sweetheart last night, so I know you understand that I’ll be stepping away from this page for a while to take care of myself and the many people who took care of Phil, and held him close to their hearts,” she wrote. “But I didn’t want to disappear without saying thank you for the beautiful messages of love and support that have been coming in all day, and for the wonderful and generous way that you’ve let Phil and me share our life adventure with you over the years. As a man who spent his career loving his audiences, Phil got such a kick out of our cozy little community here, and I know he would be very touched by the heartwarming thoughts and memories you’ve been sharing,” Thomas continued.
She signed off by wishing all of her followers “good health and happy days in the company of family and friends,” adding, “I hope that you will continue to hold close those you cherish most, just as I was blessed to do with my beloved Phillip.” Donahue’s namesake show, “The Phil Donahue Show,” aired for 29 years before ending in September 1996 and included high-profile guests like Muhammad Ali, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Steve Martin and Jamie Lee Curtis. He won 20 Emmy Awards, including 10 for Outstanding Host and 10 for the show itself.
Donahue made history by becoming the first person to interview Nelson Mandela after the South African president’s 1990 release from prison and the first American talk show host to tape from the Soviet Union. On May 3, just months before his death, President Joe Biden awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House. In 2014, Barack Obama also presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Donahue returned to TV in 2002 with his MSNBC talk show, “Donahue,” but it was canceled the following year. Donahue left much more behind than his prestigious career, including his famous wife, his five children from his first wife, Margaret Cooney, whom he divorced in 1975, his grandchildren, and his beloved golden retriever, Charlie. In lieu of flowers, Donahue’s family asked that donations be made to St.
Jude Children’s Research Hospital or the Phil Donahue/Notre Dame Scholarship Fund..
