Kelly Ripa Pays Tribute to Phil Donahue After His Death at Age 88: ‘Good Friends Are Hard to Come By’
Kelly Ripa shared a tribute to Phil Donahue after his death at age 88.
“Good friends are hard to come by and even harder to lose,” Ripa, 53, wrote via Instagram on Monday, August 19. “To a life well lived.”
The post included a photo of herself and husband Mark Consuelos, who she married in 1996, with the late talk show host and his wife, Marlo Thomas. Ripa added, “We love you Marlo and will miss Phil eternally 💔 #ripphildonahue.”
The Phil Donahue Show host “passed away peacefully following a long illness,” according to a statement shared by his family on Monday. Thomas, his wife of 44 years, was by his side with “his sister, his children, grandchildren and his beloved golden retriever, Charlie.”
Ripa and Consuelos took the photo with Donohue and Thomas in April 2021, when they were interviewed on “Double Date with Marlo Thomas & Phil Donahue” podcast. Thomas, now 86, and Donahue interviewed longtime couples about enduring love. During the recording with the Live With Kelly and Mark hosts, Thomas revealed that she didn’t think marriage was in the cards for her before meeting her man.
“All my girlfriends got married. I was a bridesmaid a million times,” Thomas shared. “[I said,] ‘I’m gonna be an actress. I’m free, I’m going to London to live for a year and do a play. I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that.’ [A relationship] just wasn’t for me. And then I met Mr. Blue Eyes here and it was like, ‘Maybe I do like this.’”
Ripa expressed her shock. “I can’t picture the two of you without each other!” she replied. “You really are peanut butter and jelly.”
Thomas happily recalled her first run-in with Donahue when she spoke to Us Weekly‘s 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me in September 2023. “I first met my husband as a guest on his talk show,” she recalled. “We flirted like mad.”
Thomas appeared on Donahue in 1977 and married the host in 1980.
Prior to meeting Thomas, Donahue was married to Margaret Cooney from 1958 to 1975, and they shared five children: Michael, Kevin, Daniel, Mary Rose and James. Donahue had primary custody of his sons, so Thomas moved into a house full of boys when she got together with her husband.
“When I moved in with Phil and his sons, they had their names on their jockey shorts,” she told Us. “It was the first time I was with a man who had ‘Dad’ on his underwear.”
In lieu of flowers, the family asked for donations to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or the Phil Donahue/Notre Dame Scholarship Fund.
