Pushkin. I've always noticed the most important things happen when you're not looking for them. Back in nineteen seventy seven, I went on this talk show to promote a project. I remember meeting her in the green room before the show. The big brown eyes, the firm handshake, the warm smile, and then he walks. The thick white hair, those killer blue eyes. It was like one of those shampoo commercials where everything suddenly goes into slow motion. Marlo Thomas Well.
I knew she was bright, articulate, but she was also very sexy. Had the year been nineteen fifty three, she would have been what we Catholic boys called an impure I'm upstaging you, doctor. Just love the smooth show. This felt like a first date. Phil asked me more personal questions than I'd ever been asked in an interview. He dug in about the men I dated and asked if there was someone special. Looking back, it probably wasn't very professional, but it was honest. I'm sorry that we are out
of time. You are really fascinating now, but you are wonderful, I said when we were off there, and I want to say you are loving and generous, and you like women. And it's a pleasure and whoever the woman in your life is very lucky. It was a chemical reaction. We were married three years later. Shortly after our thirty ninth anniversary, we found out that a couple we knew good friends been married forever we're getting a divorce. We were stunned. We began to think, Wow, if this happened to them,
could it happen to us? Where did they go wrong? Or more to the point, or did we go right? And a god is wondering, is there really a secret sauce to a successful marriage? Maybe if we talked with a lot of couples, we could unlock the mystery of
what makes a marriage last. So that's how we wrote our book, pulling together the stories of forty celebrated couples, and now we're bringing their voices to you in this podcast, like Biola Davis and Julius Tennant, Sting and Trudy Styler, Judge Judy and Jerry Shinlin Ray and Anna Romano, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burke. I. We talked with actors, athletes, musicians, journalists,
even a former president and first Lady. And when you sit down on a double date, as we did with the incredible couples you'll hear in this podcast, an interesting thing happens. Everyone talks. Everyone remembers I did not want to get married. I never had any visions of walking down an aisle with a white dress. I admired every woman who was alone and happy and who had a lot of boyfriends. The reason this marriage works is because
thankfully she knows I love her. And you know, some women who have to hear it out loud, it's not going to go that will when you're married to a guy like me. You know, having kids is a real game changer, and when you're two guys, you don't accidentally get pregnant as much as we tried. Honestly, you didn't think that I would do it. No, I didn't, You said, I dare you? Right? Yeah right? She showed him divorce
paper the next day. We have a pretty intense sexual charge between us still, But as Trudy said, that's kind of ephemeral. What's important is that I really like this woman and she really likes me. Before you know it, you're all telling stories about first encounters, parenting, health scares, infidelity, addiction, I mean, all the possible challenges that can crop up even in the best of marriages. So that's our story
and we're sticking to it. I'm filled out and I'm Marlowe Thomas, and we can't wait to share some of the laughs and tears and revelations that we had with these remarkable spouses. It's double Date with marlow Thomas and Phil Donahue, starting March eighth, from Pushkin Industries.