Single Dad Phil Donahue Prayed 5 Kids Would Accept Childless Marlo Thomas in the Family — At First It Was a ‘Disaster’

Marlo Thomas never intended to marry until she met talk show host Phil Donahue, who was divorced with five children. Donahue was nervous about his four teenage sons not getting along with his wife, and on the other side, Thomas had to adjust to living with five men after being alone all her life.

Marlo Thomas is a woman of many talents. She’s a singer, actor, author, and social activist. Thomas was a famously single celebrity with no intention of getting married.

The actress confessed that marriage started to sound far-fetched when she looked at her parents’ relationship. Her father was a famous television personality, Danny Thomas, who traveled the country as a comedian and eventually landed his show, “The Danny Thomas Show.”

Her mother, Rose Marie, was an aspiring radio presenter and singer, but she quit her career to travel the country with her husband and start a family.

However, seeing her mother’s sacrifices, Thomas said it taught her one crucial thing in life: the ability to love unconditionally and live with no regrets.

Thomas is also a feminist activist who participated in the 70’s feminist movement. The singer said while she marched, she thought of how much her mother had left behind to be a present parent.

Looking at some of Rose’s pictures as a performer brought Thomas sadness because she found it unfair that her mother had sacrificed so much of herself to be a wife and mother.

Thomas even said she and her siblings would have been fine with half of her because their mother would have had it all—a career and a loving family life.

Although Thomas did not want a family, she grew up in a close-knit brood. Her parents usually spent time apart because of her father’s busy schedule, but Thomas and her siblings also spent much time out of school to be with their family.

As Thomas grew as an activist, she pledged to be her mother’s wildest dreams and live a life devoted only to her needs and wants both in her career and personal life.

But the older she got, the more she was asked about walking down the aisle. Her mother also used to tell her she would die alone, so Thomas learned early on to ignore outside voices telling her how to live.

However, Thomas found love and happiness with talk show host Phil Donahue, who was an unexpected choice for someone who had no children and had lived alone her whole life.

Donahue was divorced and had five children he lived with full-time. The two met on Donahue’s show, and the minute they went on air, the chemistry between them lit up.

Thomas shared a beautiful memory of the early stages of her dating days with Donahue. The couple was walking in a garden as they looked lovingly into each other’s eyes.

By the time Thomas was in her early 30s, most of her friends were married, and she had already been a bridesmaid several times, not to forget the number of times she was asked to be a Godmother.

Most of her friends longed for marriage and would cry about not receiving proposals. On the flip side, Thomas, who was vocal about not wanting to tie the knot, was always proposed to.

Thomas even brought her reality to a sitcom she was starring in and producing, “That Girl,” where she played a single aspiring actress living in New York.

Thomas said it was one of the first times on television that a woman openly confessed to not wanting to get married, lived alone, and had no family nearby.

She...