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‘Inventor Of The Talk Show’: Sally Jesse Raphael On Phil Donahue And His Contribution To Talk Shows
Sally Jesse Raphael gets candid about Phil Donahue and the immense work he did for his talk show. Check out what she had to say!
Trigger Warning: This article contains mention of death.
The Iconic talk show host, Sally Jesse Raphael, got candid about Phil Donahue as he passed away at 88 on Sunday, August 18. She opened up about how creatively he conversed about the “taboo” topics on his show.
While conversing with People magazine, the veteran host said that Donahue changed daytime television forever as he considered women who watched television at home. She stated that Donahue “is known for being the inventor of the talk show.”
The Sally show host elaborates on this by saying that he “invented” the concept of a talk show, and she came next. After her, other notable individuals like Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, Geraldo Rivera, and many more ventured into it. She said, “We were all born of Phil Donahue.”
Raphael touched up on how Donahue fearlessly talked about the “taboo” topics. She mentioned that he was the only one who spoke about those topics, which included religion, homosexuality, and abortion. He covered all these topics in the sixties; no other individual had done that before him.
The veteran host stated that he made sure that the studio audience was a part of it by asking their views on the topic and also making the audience home a part of the show via phone calls. Raphael mentioned that Donahue was aware that most of his audience were women, and he could actually “talk” as an “Irishman.”
She continued saying that women knew Donahue like then and that it was rather unusual in that era. Raphael shares that the men during that time were known for not liking women. She reflected on the respect and administration the deceased host had for women, which was evidently seen on the screen.
She also recalled the moment The Phil Donahue Show host met his second spouse, Marlo Thomas. She was promoting her film Thieves on his show, and both individuals had an instant chemistry. They later got married in 1980.
When Donahue passed away, his family shared a statement first reported by Today on August 19. The family stated that he passed away in his home, with his family by his side, which included his wife of 44 years, Thomas, and “his sister, his children, grandchildren, and his beloved golden retriever, Charlie.”
The statement mentioned that he died in peace after a long illness. They asked for donations at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or the Phil Donahue/Notre Dame Scholarship Fund.
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