Speaker 1: Pushkin. I've always noticed the most important things happen when
Speaker 1: you're not looking for them. Back in nineteen seventy seven,
Speaker 1: I went on this talk show to promote a project.
Speaker 1: I remember meeting her in the green room before the show.
Speaker 1: The big brown eyes, the firm handshake, the warm smile,
Speaker 1: and then he walks. The thick white hair, those killer
Speaker 1: blue eyes. It was like one of those shampoo commercials
Speaker 1: where everything suddenly goes into slow motion. Marlo Thomas Well.
Speaker 1: I knew she was bright, articulate, but she was also
Speaker 1: very sexy. Had the year been nineteen fifty three, she
Speaker 1: would have been what we Catholic boys called an impure
Speaker 1: I'm upstaging you, doctor. Just love the smooth show. This
Speaker 1: felt like a first date. Phil asked me more personal
Speaker 1: questions than I'd ever been asked in an interview. He
Speaker 1: dug in about the men I dated and asked if
Speaker 1: there was someone special. Looking back, it probably wasn't very professional,
Speaker 1: but it was honest. I'm sorry that we are out
Speaker 1: of time. You are really fascinating now, but you are wonderful,
Speaker 1: I said when we were off there, and I want
Speaker 1: to say you are loving and generous, and you like women.
Speaker 1: And it's a pleasure and whoever the woman in your
Speaker 1: life is very lucky. It was a chemical reaction. We
Speaker 1: were married three years later. Shortly after our thirty ninth anniversary,
Speaker 1: we found out that a couple we knew good friends
Speaker 1: been married forever we're getting a divorce. We were stunned.
Speaker 1: We began to think, Wow, if this happened to them,
Speaker 1: could it happen to us? Where did they go wrong?
Speaker 1: Or more to the point, or did we go right?
Speaker 1: And a god is wondering, is there really a secret
Speaker 1: sauce to a successful marriage? Maybe if we talked with
Speaker 1: a lot of couples, we could unlock the mystery of
Speaker 1: what makes a marriage last. So that's how we wrote
Speaker 1: our book, pulling together the stories of forty celebrated couples,
Speaker 1: and now we're bringing their voices to you in this podcast,
Speaker 1: like Biola Davis and Julius Tennant, Sting and Trudy Styler,
Speaker 1: Judge Judy and Jerry Shinlin Ray and Anna Romano, Neil
Speaker 1: Patrick Harris and David Burke. I. We talked with actors, athletes, musicians, journalists,
Speaker 1: even a former president and first Lady. And when you
Speaker 1: sit down on a double date, as we did with
Speaker 1: the incredible couples you'll hear in this podcast, an interesting
Speaker 1: thing happens. Everyone talks. Everyone remembers I did not want
Speaker 1: to get married. I never had any visions of walking
Speaker 1: down an aisle with a white dress. I admired every
Speaker 1: woman who was alone and happy and who had a
Speaker 1: lot of boyfriends. The reason this marriage works is because
Speaker 1: thankfully she knows I love her. And you know, some
Speaker 1: women who have to hear it out loud, it's not
Speaker 1: going to go that will when you're married to a
Speaker 1: guy like me. You know, having kids is a real
Speaker 1: game changer, and when you're two guys, you don't accidentally
Speaker 1: get pregnant as much as we tried. Honestly, you didn't
Speaker 1: think that I would do it. No, I didn't, You said,
Speaker 1: I dare you? Right? Yeah right? She showed him divorce
Speaker 1: paper the next day. We have a pretty intense sexual
Speaker 1: charge between us still, But as Trudy said, that's kind
Speaker 1: of ephemeral. What's important is that I really like this
Speaker 1: woman and she really likes me. Before you know it,
Speaker 1: you're all telling stories about first encounters, parenting, health scares, infidelity, addiction,
Speaker 1: I mean, all the possible challenges that can crop up
Speaker 1: even in the best of marriages. So that's our story
Speaker 1: and we're sticking to it. I'm filled out and I'm
Speaker 1: Marlowe Thomas, and we can't wait to share some of
Speaker 1: the laughs and tears and revelations that we had with
Speaker 1: these remarkable spouses. It's double Date with marlow Thomas and
Speaker 1: Phil Donahue, starting March eighth, from Pushkin Industries.