Phil Donahue's net worth may seem staggering when you're looking purely at numbers, but considering he spent nearly four decades of his life on small screens, it's not quite so surprising.
Donahue was a 20-time Daytime Emmy winner for his lengthy tenure on TV screens, and in May 2024 was awarded an even higher honor: The Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The talk show host died Aug. 18, 2024, and in one of his final interviews, told PEOPLE that he sometimes missed working, adding, "Sometimes I'll shout my question to a guest on the screen and hope they'll somehow hear me."
Find out how much wealth Donahue amassed over his 7,000 TV episodes through the years.
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How did Phil Donahue become famous?
Donahue was born on Dec. 21, 1935, and grew up in the Cleveland, Ohio, area. He began his career in media in his native Ohio in the 1950s, and his talk show, then titled The Phil Donahue Show , premiered in Dayton, Ohio, in 1967.
The show moved its home base to Chicago in 1974 and changed its title to simply Donahue . In 1985, Donahue moved studios to New York City's famous 30 Rockefeller Center.
Throughout its legendary run, Donahue tackled topics that other daytime shows shied away from, including abuses in the Catholic Church (of which Donahue described himself as a "lapsed" member), prison life, politics, abortion, apartheid South Africa, the Cold War (even reporting from the Soviet Union in 1987) and more, and even hosted one of the most highly watched debates of the 1992 primary election between Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown Jr .
Throughout the daytime staple's run, which ended in September 1996, Donahue and Donahue won 20 Emmys, an equal number for the host and the show as a whole. The show is credited with popularizing Chicago-centered daytime TV and paving the way for stars like Oprah Winfrey , Sally Jessy Raphael and Montel Williams , to name a few.
Donahue told PEOPLE that he believes the core of every good talk show is curiosity.
"I still believe that, despite our differences, we’re all part of this sprawling global family," he said. "And we just need to get to know each other, so that we can share the world together."
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What was Phil Donahue's net worth?
At the time of his passing in August 2024, Phil Donahue's net worth was estimated at $150 million, per Celebrity Net Worth .
He and wife Marlo Thomas are supporters of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and other philanthropic efforts, including a Notre Dame Scholarship Fund in Donahue's name to aid students in attending his alma mater.
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What year did Phil Donahue come out?
The Phil Donahue Show first premiered in 1967 and was later re-titled Donahue . The host's primetime interview show, also titled Donahue , premiered in 2002 and was canceled in 2003—allegedly because Donahue was opposed to the Iraq war (which, we'll remind you, is still ongoing more than two decades later). Donahue later hinted that the decision was largely because his liberalism was not quite welcome with General Electric being the parent company of MSNBC—and a major defense contractor that would profit handsomely from the conflict.
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What was Phil Donahue's cause of death?
Donahue reportedly suffered from a long illness. The nature of said illness hasn't been reported.
Was Phil Donahue ill?
Donahue's rep said he died from a "long illness," but his specific cause of death was not revealed publicly.
How old was Phil Donahue when he passed away?
Donahue died at age 88.
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