Phil Donahue’s wife Marlo Thomas paid tribute to her “sweetheart” on Instagram Monday, announcing a hiatus from the platform following his death.
“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,” the actress 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.”
The pioneering talk show host died Sunday night after a long illness, his family told “Today,” noting he was surrounded by loved ones and his beloved golden retriever, Charlie.
“Until I return, I wish you good health and happy days in the company of family and friends, and I hope that you will continue to hold close those you cherish most, just as I was blessed to do with my beloved Phillip,” Thomas wrote.
In May the couple celebrated 44 years of marriage that she said felt “more like 20 years,” calling their wedding “a happy day in May, and it’s happy still! We are blessed and so grateful we found each other.”
The couple met in 1977 when Donahue interviewed Thomas on “The Donahue Show” about her movie “Thieves” — and there were “instant sparks,” the actress has repeatedly said. They married three years later.
Thomas’s Instagram feed was sprinkled with tributes to the couple’s love and relationship longevity, including a Husband Appreciation Day, when she said, “I’m pretty thankful for my guy,” shots of them on vacation and their honeymoon, and a New Year’s 2024 “throwback” shot of them dancing at their wedding. In January, she hat-tipped him again for National Spouse’s Day, writing, “We’ve been married 43 years, and it’s so good to know that I picked the perfect spouse for me.”
Thomas’s Monday message also was accompanied by a treasured picture of the couple on vacation astride a motorbike, “one of my favorite photos of Phil and me,” she wrote.