What Makes a Marriage Last: 40 Celebrated Couples Share with Us the Secrets to a Happy Life

by Marlo Thomas, Phil Donahue

Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 

Power couple Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue have created a compelling and intimate collection of intriguing conversations with famous couples about their enduring marriages and how they have made them last through the challenges we all share.

What makes a marriage last? Who doesn’t want to know the answer to that question? To unlock this mystery, iconic couple Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue crisscrossed the country and conducted intimate conversations with forty celebrated couples whose long marriages they’ve admired—from award-winning actors, athletes, and newsmakers to writers, comedians, musicians, and a former U.S. president and First Lady. Through these conversations, Marlo and Phil also revealed the rich journey of their own marriage.

    What Makes a Marriage Last  offers practical and heartfelt wisdom for couples of all ages, and a rare glimpse into the lives of husbands and wives we have come to know and love. Marlo and Phil’s frequently funny, often touching, and always engaging conversations span the marital landscape—from that first rush of new love to keeping that precious spark alive, from navigating hard times to celebrating triumphs, from balancing work and play and family to growing better and stronger together. At once intimate, candid, revelatory, hilarious, instructive, and poignant, this book is a beautiful gift for couples of every age and stage.

Featuring interviews with:

Alan and Arlene Alda • Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick

President Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter • James Carville and Mary Matalin

Deepak and Rita Chopra • Patricia Cornwell and Staci Gruber

Bryan Cranston and Robin Dearden • Billy and Janice Crystal

Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest • Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen

Viola Davis and Julius Tennon • Gloria and Emilio Estefan

Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan • Chip and Joanna Gaines

Sanjay and Rebecca Gupta • Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann

Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka • Ron and Cheryl Howard

Jesse and Jacqueline Jackson • Elton John and David Furnish

John and Justine Leguizamo • LL COOL J and Simone I. Smith

Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone • John McEnroe and Patty Smyth

Mehmet and Lisa Oz • Rodney and Holly Robinson Peete

Letty Cottin Pogrebin and Bert Pogrebin • Rob and Michele Reiner

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos • Al Roker and Deborah Roberts

Ray and Anna Romano • Tony Shalhoub and Brooke Adams

Judges Judy and Jerry Sheindlin • George Stephanopoulos and Ali Wentworth

Sting and Trudie Styler • Capt. Chesley “Sully” and Lorrie Sullenberger

Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner • Judith and Milton Viorst

Judy Woodruff and Al Hunt • Bob Woodward and Elsa Walsh 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062982605
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/25/2021
Pages:	640
Sales rank:	176,289
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.80(d)

About the Author

Marlo Thomas is an award-winning actress, author, and activist whose body of work continues to impact American entertainment and culture. She has been honored with four Emmy Awards, the George Foster Peabody Award, a Golden Globe, a Grammy, and has been inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame. In November 2014, President Barack Obama awarded Marlo the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor a civilian can receive.

Phil Donahue is a writer, producer, journalist, and media pioneer who revolutionized the talk show format and ushered in a new era of broadcast television. The Donahue show was honored with twenty Daytime Emmy Awards, including ten Emmys for Outstanding Host, and ten for Best Talk Show. In 1996, the Daytime Emmys presented Phil with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to television journalism. Phil has been inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame and is a recipient of the George Foster Peabody Award. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Foreword Marlo Thomas ix

Foreword Phil Donahue xvii

President Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter 1

John McEnroe and Patty Smyth 13

Ray and Anna Romano 29

Viola Davis and Julius Tennon 42

Sting and Trudie Styler 55

Alan and Arlene Alda 66

Capt. Chesley "Sully" and Lorrie Sullenberger 81

Elton John and David Furnish 97

James Carville and Mary Matalin 117

Tony Shalhoub and Brooke Adams 137

Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan 149

Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka 163

LL COOL J and Simone I. Smith 177

Rob and Michele Reiner 195

Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest 208

Chip and Joanna Gaines 221

George Stephanopouios and Ali Wentworth 237

Judges Judy and Jerry Sheindlin 249

Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner 263

Bryan Cranston and Robin Dearden 279

Gloria and Emilio Estefan 292

Jesse and Jacqueline Jackson 305

Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone 322

Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick 338

Dr. Mehmet and Lisa Oz 349

Billy and Janice Crystal 364

Dr. Sanjay and Rebecca Gupta 377

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos 392

Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen 407

Judith and Milton Viorst 422

Al Roker and Deborah Roberts 437

Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann 454

Patricia Cornwell and Staci Gruber 469

Letty Cottin Pogrebin and Bert Pogrebin 484

Deepak and Rita Chopra 501

Rodney and Holly Robinson Peete 514

John and Justine Leguizamo 531

Ron and Cheryl Howard 546

Judy Woodruff and Al Hunt 561

Bob Woodward and Elsa Walsh 576

Bonus chapter: Charlotte and John Henderson 591

Epilogue 603

Acknowledgments 607

Editorial Reviews

Delightful and instructive…Love and understanding shine through in this inspiring collection.”  — Publisher’s Weekly

“Warmhearted testimony to enduring relationships…The authors’ disarming ebullience makes them endearing interviewers.”  — Kirkus Reviews

“An intimate and surprising look at what keeps couples together.” — AARP

From the Publisher

Delightful and instructive…Love and understanding shine through in this inspiring collection.” 

Publisher’s Weekly

04/20/2020

Actor Thomas and talk-show host Donahue, married since 1980, mine the long-term love lives of 40 celebrity couples in this delightful and instructive volume. The authors interviewed couples and found various patterns. Some fall under the “opposites attract” concept, namely Democratic political strategist turned LSU professor James Carville and his Republican wife, Mary Matalin (married in 1993), who explain, “we have feelings and relationships... politics are what we do for a living.” Others embody the spirit of “for better, for worse,” such as actors Michael J. Fox, diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1992, and Tracy Pollan (married in 1988), who advise couples “to give each other the benefit of the doubt. Know that you love this person and they love you.” Former president Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn (married since 1946), counsel that they decided long ago not to go to sleep in the same bed angry with each other. Actor Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka (who had been together for years before marrying in 2014) teach that the little things, like date night, can help keep love burning bright. Love and understanding shine through in this inspiring collection. (May)

Publishers Weekly

An intimate and surprising look at what keeps couples together.

AARP

2020-03-22
Famous couples reflect candidly about married life.

Hoping to be both informative and inspiring, Thomas and Donahue, happily married since 1980, interviewed 40 couples (including a few same-sex pairs), most married more than 20 years, to find out “if there really is a secret sauce to a successful marriage.” The authors’ disarming ebullience makes them endearing interviewers, with questions including how the partners first met, how they knew they were in love, what they learned from their parents’ marriages, how they resolve fights, and how they have dealt with blended families, survived traumatic problems, and maintain their individual growth and change. “What advice,” they ask, “might they give to younger couples starting out—or the already married—that they wish they had known themselves when they first took their vows?” Not surprisingly, competitiveness emerges as a frequent question for celebrity couples. “I’ll tell you one thing we’re never jealous of is each other’s career,” Kevin Bacon remarked about his marriage to Kyra Sedgwick. Sedgwick stopped working to raise their family, taking a role in The Closer when their children were teenagers. By then, having lost their savings in Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, they needed her income. Although couples like Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan hoped to emulate their parents’ wonderful marriages, many couples vowed not to repeat their parents’ animosity or the troubles they experienced in their own first marriages. Some partners—Thomas and Donahue, James Carville and Mary Matalin, among others—accommodate vastly different personality traits. Carville and Matalin decided to be interviewed separately, in fact, the better to answer questions honestly. Much marital advice underscores what Judy Woodruff calls “the eternal values, like honesty, integrity, and respect. And, yes, love.” As Rob Reiner’s mother once remarked, the key to a long marriage is to “find someone who can stand you.” Other contributors include Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, George Stephanopoulos and Ali Wentworth, and Joanna and Chip Gaines.

Warmhearted testimony to enduring relationships.

Kirkus Reviews