Phil Donahue First Wife – Marge Cooney Wiki (Bio, Age, Children, Net Worth)
Marge Cooney is the ex-wife to the famous anchor, author, and producer, Phil Donahue.
Many associate her with the accomplished producer due to their previous marriage history – the couple had five children in total. Still, their marriage lasted for slightly more than ten years.
In 2018, Margaret Cooney became a contemporary topic of discussion after many internet users and TV stations started asking questions about her existence and whether she was alive or not.
Contrary to the information disseminated by sources citing her demise in 2018, Marge Cooney is well alive and currently resides in Albuquerque. She is eighty-two years old and prefers to live her life in peace and serenity.
Who is Marge Cooney?
As most of her friends and family often called her, Margaret was born around 1938, in West Orange – a small township in New Jersey.
She grew up in West Orange and spent most of her childhood living in New Jersey. Even though her early schooling remains unknown, tabloids indicate that she went to elementary, middle, and high school in New Jersey.
Other sources reveal that Cooney lived in Chatham, New Jersey and later moved to Boca Roton, Florida, for the major part of her life before marriage.
She first enrolled at Marquette University before joining the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
Cooney was a pious lady by all means, as she was a dutiful member of St. Mark’s Church in Sea Girt.
Maggie loved outdoor sports such as golfing and even joined the Spring Lake Golf Club. Besides, her heart was filled with kindness and love for the underprivileged in society.
She became part of a charitable program and an initiative propelled by the St. Joan of Arc Church, in Boca Raton. Through their collective efforts, the church members demonstrated love and care for street children and the needy within their community.
According to verified sources, Marge Cooney quit her education at the University of Notre Dame. She went to start a new life in Chicago.
She landed a job at the Price Waterhouse Coopers offices, an accounting firm in Chicago. Even though she was miles away from Indiana, she managed to keep in touch with her newly found love, Phil Donohue. At the time, Phil was completing his business studies in Indiana.
Her marriage life, children, and divorce
Marge Cooney attributes her marriage with Phil to her brother, Jim Cooney. Jim was close friends with Phil, and in one of their meetings at Notre Dame, connected the two ex-partners through an introduction.
The two dated for a while and officially married in early 1958. The union was officiated in New Mexico, at the San Felipe de Neri Cathedral.
The marriage wasn’t filled with pomp and glory but had a reverence like no other – three priests were present at their union. Besides, only the couple’s close friends and family attended their marriage.
In their marriage, Phil and Marge were privileged to have five children, four of them being boys and the lastborn a girl.
The firstborn is Michael Donohue, who shares a birth year with Kevin Donohue. The other three children in their birth order are Daniel Donohue, James Patrick, and Mary Rose Donohue.
All the couple’s children are still alive except James Patrick who passed away in 2014.
After twelve years of a fruitful marriage – they had many sons and a daughter – the couple called it quits, and parted ways.
Marge traveled to Albuquerque, where she moved into an apartment with her two children – Phil stayed with the three kids.
Phil and Marge lived separately until 1974 when they decided to put aside their differences and start their relationship anew.
However, their marriage lasted a shorter while than before – they were packing bags and dividing property after only four months.
This time, their separation was for good. The couple moved to court seeking a divorce. Phil was granted custody of the four boys, and Cooney returned to Albuquerque with Mary Rose.
After her divorce, Cooney remarried in New Mexico. However, details about her union or the new lover remain unrevealed.
Phil Donohue: career and remarriage
Phil undoubtedly ranks among the most successful and influential media personalities.
Donohue was born in Cleveland and went to St. Edward High School. He graduated in 1957, with a BA degree from the University of Notre Dame.
He immediately applied for a job and was employed at the KYW as an assistant – he worked in the production department.
Phil Donohue also worked at the WKYC-TV branch, and later at WABJ radio.
He worked for other reputable media stations including CBS Morning News as an anchor. After gaining a better understanding of the field and his career, Phil made his career leap when he began hosting the popular Phil Donohue TV show.
In 1980, Phil married his second and current wife the famous actress Marlo Thomas.
To date, Marlo and Phil don’t have any children of their own. However, Thomas has assumed the step-mother’s role to Phil’s boys for the past forty years.
Apart from being a renowned actress, Marlo Thomas is much like Marge Cooney – she believes in charity and kindness.
Marlo Thomas helps run the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, following her father’s good example.
Fans and critics have come out on many occasions to congratulate the couple on their forty-year marriage.
Marlo has revealed throwback photos of their marriage on her Instagram page. While reminiscing her marriage day, she captioned a TBT cake-cutting ceremony and admitted how time flies so quickly when in the company of our loved ones.
Besides being a producer and a celebrated anchor, Phil Donahue is also an author. He wrote two books, one in 1980, titled Phil Donahue, ‘My Own Story,’ and the other in 2020; which he launched with his wife, ‘What Makes a Marriage Last.’
Net worth
It’s pretty difficult to determine Marge Cooney’s net value, considering most of her professions are still unknown, and how she disappeared into the shadows immediately following her divorce.
However, it seems she reaped a fair amount from her separation proceeds. At the time, it was likely she was awarded close to $18,000 in compensation.
On the other hand, Phil Donohue is one of the wealthiest media personalities, with a net worth comfortably surpassing $150 million.
