Oprah Winfrey once called Donahue, who is survived by wife, Marlo Thomas, a “trailblazer who used the power of television to transform a nation.”
by Savannah Walsh
August 19, 2024
Phil Donahue, a groundbreaking host in daytime TV, whom Oprah Winfrey once credited for her own legacy as a talk show host, has passed away at 88. Donahue “died Sunday night at home surrounded by his wife of 44 years, Marlo Thomas, his sister, his children, grandchildren, and his beloved golden retriever, Charlie,” his family said in a statement. His cause of death has not been disclosed, but he had been suffering from a “long illness,” according to Donahue’s loved ones.
“If there had been no Phil Donahue show, there would be no Oprah Winfrey Show,” Winfrey wrote in the September 2002 issue of O, the Oprah Magazine. “He was the first to acknowledge that women are interested in more than mascara tips and cake recipes—that we’re intelligent, we’re concerned about the world around us, and we want the best possible lives for ourselves.”
Read More HERE
