All About Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas' 5 Children

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Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas have embraced their modern family.

Phil and his college sweetheart, Margaret Cooney, married right after the couple graduated in 1958. The pair then welcomed five children — Michael, Kevin, Daniel, Mary Rose and James — and in 1975, they divorced after 17 years of marriage. In the divorce settlement, Phil retained custody of his four sons, while Cooney got custody of their daughter.

Phil married Marlo on May 21, 1980. Marlo became the kids’ stepmother — a role she was happy to take on. In May 2011, Marlo told AARP.org that she never planned to be a “mother to Phil’s children in the traditional sense” because they already had a mom. She said she wanted to be a “friend” instead.

“When I was growing up, my mother was always a friend to my siblings and me (in addition to being all the other things a mom is), and I was always grateful for that because I knew she was someone I could talk to and joke with, and argue with and that nothing would ever harm that friendship,” she explained. “So I used that model with Phil's kids, and I'm proud to say that the friendships I established with them are as strong today as they were 30 years ago — even stronger.”

From 1967 to 1996, Phil hosted The Phil Donahue Show. In January 1980, he told the Washington Post that it felt like his life was beginning to imitate the show. "The light's started to go on in me. I noticed that my children weren't really sharing feelings with me — and one of the reasons was I don't do a hell of a lot of sharing with them in terms of feelings,” he explained. “And I began to examine why, listen to some of the shrinks and people who do our show. I began to realize that not much in the way we were raised encouraged that."

After The Phil Donahue Show ended, Phil returned to prime time in 2002 with the MSNBC show Donahue. That year, Oprah Winfrey interviewed Phil for O, The Oprah Magazine and asked what his children thought of his return to television. “They're surprised. But they've also said, ‘Go get 'em, Pop,’ ” he said. “I'm not 29 anymore, my wife isn't pregnant, I'm not trying to raise kids, I don't have a mortgage — so it takes less courage for me to speak up.”

Here’s what to know about Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas’ five children: Michael, Kevin, Daniel, Mary Rose and James. Phil and Cooney’s oldest child is son Michael Phillip Donahue, born in 1959. He graduated from New Trier East High School in Winnetka, Illinois, before attending the University of Colorado at Boulder, according to The New York Times. In 1986, he began working as an account executive at Katz American TV, according to TVNewsCheck. He also worked at other broadcast media companies, including with ABC at WTNH-TV in New Haven, Connecticut, before moving to Boston to work at Katz again.

Michael married Martha Reed von Gal, who is known as Reed, on April 27, 1991, according to The New York Times. The couple tied the knot at St. Michael Parish in Greenwich, Connecticut. Reed graduated from Saint Michael's College with a bachelor of arts in sociology and later from Boston College with a master’s degree in social work. In 2020, Marlo shared on Facebook that for more than 20 years, Reed was the owner and director of the Little Red Wagon PlaySchool.

Over the years, Reed has been an advocate for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which was founded by Marlo’s father, comedian Danny Thomas. In September 2021, Marlo wrote on Instagram that Reed was a “true guardian angel” for St. Jude.

Michael and Reed are parents to two children: a son, Connor, and a daughter, Kenzie. Marlo referred to her stepgrandson — who is also her godson — as her “soulmate” on Instagram.

Even though Marlo and her grandchildren are not biologically related, she shows plenty of love and affection for them. In another post from 2015, Marlo wrote: “Kenzie is not my [biological] grandchild. But I love her as I do all my biological nieces and nephews. She is my family and I love every moment of her dear life that we have shared.”




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