Phil Donahue Leaves Behind Five Children From His First Marriage to His College Sweetheart

Talk show host Phil Donahue had an easy manner that made him a welcome sight on television sets all across America. He was an innovator who established the daytime talk show format that is still used to this day. Sadly, the trailblazing interviewer passed away in August 2024 , leaving behind more than an iconic legacy.

He was married to actor Marlo Thomas for more than 40 years, who was stepmother to his five children. Phil married his college girlfriend, Margaret Cooney, in 1958 and promptly had five kids with her. When they divorced in 1975, Phil got custody of four of their children while his ex-wife gained custody of one. Here's what we know about Phil Donahue's kids.

Phil Donahue's kids stayed out of the limelight.

Most of Phil Donahue's kids chose wildly different paths than their famous father. His oldest, Michael Phillip Donahue, was born in 1959 and went on to work as an account executive at Katz American TV. His wife, Martha Reed von Gal, had a master's in social work that she used to run the Little Red Wagon PlaySchool, before it closed its doors in August 2020 .

Marlo Thomas is very close to her step-grandchildren, and often posts about them on social media. In March 2015 she shouted out Michael's daughter Kenzie on her 18th birthday. In a lovely Facebook post she wrote, "Kenzie is not my biological grandchild, but I love her as I do all my biological nieces and nephews." With Kenzie was her brother Connor, whom Marlo referred to as her "soulmate" in an Instagram post four years later. It's rare to see this kind of relationship, though not surprising given the source.

Phil's next son, Kevin Donahue, has kept his life a bit more private than his older sibling. We know he is a year younger than Michael, enjoys running marathons, and frequently took trips with his father and stepmother. Boy number three was born in 1961. Like Kevin, Daniel Donahue is more private than Michael. What we know comes in the form of the occasional holiday-related Facebook post from Marlo .

In 1965, Margaret and Phil welcomed their first and only daughter. Mary Rose Donahue lived with her mother in New Mexico after the divorce and eventually attended culinary school. She has mostly kept to herself, though a 2011 photo of her carving a turkey with her father suggests she was putting her cooking skills to good use.

According to the Dayton Daily News , Phil's youngest son James “Jim” Patrick Donahue passed away in August 2014 from an aortic aneurysm. Prior to that, he had been living in Hawaii, where he was an attorney. A colleague of Jim's said he was a "true warrior who fought the injustices of the world. He was a passionate and independent thinker who sought the truth." Jim was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the "warm and tranquil waters of Honolulu."