Marlo Thomas Broke up with Phil Donahue & Got Back with Ex Months before They Wed — Now They Celebrate 43 Years

• American actress Marlo Thomas and American media personality Phil Donahue have just celebrated their 43rd anniversary.
• The couple started a relationship in their 40s but broke up and even pursued other people during this time.
• However, eventually, Thomas and Donahue got back together and finally married in 1980.

Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue's love story is truly a testament to the age-old saying: If you love something, let it go, and if it comes back to you, then you know it was meant to be.

The happy couple has just celebrated their 43rd anniversary. However, not many fans know that the duo broke up before they got married. As they celebrated their anniversary over a play and a romantic dinner afterward, fans swooned over the joyous occasion.

Thomas and Donahue looked elated as they posed for a picture. They had big smiles planted on both faces as the actress held onto her hubby's collar ever so protectively. Thomas accompanied the lovely photo with a touching caption that read:

"On the town for our 43rd anniversary. A matinee and then dinner! A happy celebration."

The outpouring of love from the couple's supporters was overwhelming. Many expressed absolute joy and excitement that the pair is still going strong. One fan, in particular, was especially giddy and excited over the couple's union, as she had just bumped into Thomas that same night they were at the matinee:

"Congratulations!!! I am the clumsy lady that tripped over you before [the] musical! I was so embarrassed [but] it was such an honor to see you, though!!"

Though the duo may be happy in love currently, getting to a place of unconditional love was not a walk in the park. In an exclusive sit-down interview with Fox News, the couple addressed the sad times they went through when they called it quits back in their dating days. Thomas recounted the details of their split:

"Phil and I broke up for three months before we got married. We were arguing a lot; we were working and living in different cities, and all of the compromises we were making to accommodate two full and different lives made things so [hard]."

On top of all that, Donahue had the extra pressure of raising his sons alone. Eventually, it was too much for the lovebirds, and they decided to call it quits.

Recognizing the futility of the relationship during such a busy and different time in both of their lives was not an easy feat for the couple. During the months apart, they dated other people — with Thomas even returning to her ex — but still longed for each other.

As luck would have it, Donahue got the urge to pick up the phone one night and call Thomas, saying he could not live without her as she was irreplaceable. Twelve weeks later, they were married.

The Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas Love Story: How and Where It All Started

The scene was set — It was 1977 in Chicago, the day the two crossed paths and found themselves absolutely smitten. Thomas was a guest on Donahue's talk show, and the chemistry was instantaneous.

Thomas knew Donahue was different than any other man she encountered before when the talk show host asked her if it would be ok for him to ask about her mom on the show. On their way from the green room to the studio, she recalled Donahue having taken the time to ask whether she would be comfortable with discussing her mom on air, as opposed to the usual question about her famous father.

Her father was legendary actor, comedian, and TV producer Danny Thomas, who founded St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. It was normal to ask about him. But the actress was so touched by Donahue's considerate question because no one previously bothered to ask about her mother.

After getting to know each other better, the pair decided to pursue a long-distance relationship because she was based in Los Angeles while he was raising his five kids in Winnetka, Illinois. The couple eventually married in 1980.

[Thomas] asserts that there is something so beautiful and magical about gifting each other the time to do activities one knows their partner loves to do, at times even more so than the other.

For some time during their courtship, the duo debated about where they would eventually settle down since both lived in different places. According to Thomas, Donahue explicitly stated that he was not willing to live in L.A. and instead propositioned New York or Washington, to which she agreed to settle in New York.

The couple worked through their long-distance living difficulties through the necessary tool of compromise, which is imperative when trying to make any relationship work. Despite their challenges, they always found their way back to each other.

Though the couple does not share any children between them, Thomas became the stepmom to Donahue's five boys. Donahue has six children with his ex, including one daughter who lives with her mother. After joining the family, Thomas became enamored with Donahue's sons, expressing:

"I really like his kids. It's a real treat to be around them."

Thomas adores being a stepmom and indirectly stated that she would have joined the journey to motherhood sooner had it not been thwarted by societal norms and pressures. She felt as though women were constantly being told that they could not have both a career and family when she felt quite the opposite and knew she could have it all.

43 Years Later and Still Going Strong, Thomas and Donahue Share Advice for a Life-Long Marriage

Young couples in love can learn many things from the Thomas and Donahue love story. That is to be patient, be willing to compromise, support your partner, keep the romance alive, and, most importantly, always fight for someone who you truly love, no matter what. When asked about their marriage and how they made it work initially, the couple shared:

"We're both type-A personalities, so we fought a lot in the first year. In addition to being deeply in love, we were also deeply invested in our work, and it was hard to have our marriage and our careers blend at the same time."

"It took us about a year to find our groove, and we did it on neutral ground — not in L.A. or in Chicago, where we had our separate lives, but in New York, where we built our new life...together," they added.

Some may wonder how to keep the romance and spark between partners alive after so much time has passed. Thomas wants them to know that people need to make an active effort to spend quality time with their partners.

She asserts that there is something so beautiful and magical about gifting each other the time to do activities one knows their partner loves to do, at times even more so than the other. The couple feels there is an array of ways to keep the romance in a relationship fueled with passion, such as having movie nights at home and wining and dining at restaurants.

Of course, making things work between two partners is no easy feat, and people may feel helpless often. However, the loving couple wants newlyweds to know:

"Keep at it...Elsa Walsh told us, 'It's so much easier to work on being married and staying married than it is to work on getting divorced.' And that's true; it takes a lot of effort to get out of a relationship, but if you put that effort back into the relationship, everything is so much more satisfying."

From being in love together to still being in love apart and then returning to each other, Thomas and Donahue have seen it all, and their love story is one that many people can take cues from. When it comes to the saying: love conquers all, the duo knows all too well how true it is.

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