Kelly Ripa shared a tribute to Phil Donahue after his death at the age of 88.

“Good friends are hard to find and even harder to lose,” Ripa, 53, wrote on Instagram on Monday, August 19. “Here’s to a life well lived.”

The post included a photo of her and her husband Mark Consueloswhom she married in 1996, with the late talk show host and his wife, Marlo Thomas. Ripa added: “We love you Marlo and will miss Phil forever 💔 #ripphildonahue.”

The Phil Donahue Show The presenter “passed away peacefully after a long illness,” his family said in a statement on Monday. Thomas, to whom he was married for 44 years, was at his side with “his sister, children, grandchildren and his beloved golden retriever Charlie.”

Ripa and Consuelos took the photo with Donohue and Thomas in April 2021 while they were interviewed on the podcast “Double Date with Marlo Thomas & Phil Donahue.” Thomas, now 86, and Donahue interviewed long-term couples about lasting love. During the recording with the Live with Kelly and Mark In the show “The 40 Fingers,” Thomas revealed that before meeting her husband, she did not believe that marriage was an option for her.

“All my friends were getting married. I was a bridesmaid a million times,” Thomas said. “(I said,) ‘I’m going to be an actress. I’m free, I’m going to live in London for a year and do a play. I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that.’ (A relationship) just wasn’t for me. And then I met Mr. Blue Eyes here and it was like, ‘Maybe I’ll like this.'”

Ripa expressed her shock. “I can’t imagine you two without each other!” she replied. “You really are like peanut butter and jelly.”

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Thomas happily remembered her first meeting with Donahue, when she We weekly‘s 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me in September 2023. “I first met my husband as a guest on his talk show,” she recalled. “We flirted like crazy.”

Thomas appeared on Donahue in 1977 and married the host in 1980.

Before Donahue met Thomas, he was married to Margaret Cooney from 1958 to 1975, and they had five children together: Michael, Kevin, Daniel, Mary Rose, and James. Donahue had primary custody of his sons, so Thomas moved into a house full of boys when she got together with her husband.

“When I moved in with Phil and his sons, their names were on their jockey shorts,” she said Us“It was the first time I was with a man who had ‘Daddy’ written on his underwear.”

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or the Phil Donahue/Notre Dame Scholarship Fund.