On August 18, 2024 the world lost the king of daytime television, the beloved Phil Donahue. I was so honored to have him and his lovely wife Marlo Thomas as guests on “A Spoonful of Paolo” on July 22, 2020. The interview was was over Zoom due to the pandemic, but it was an episode that I will never forget. I walked away from this interview feeling inspired and thankful. Phil and Marlo are talkers, so I ended up spending over an 1 hour with them. We edited the video episode down to 22 minutes, but you can find the full version of our conversation on the “A Spoonful of Paolo” podcast. Phil and Marlo shared so many wonderful stories with me and my favorite part was seeing how much they loved one another. It felt so great to thank Phil because what he started as the king of daytime television laid the path I am walking on today. I vividly remember watching Oprah Winfrey present Phil the Lifetime Acheivement Award at the 1996 Daytime Emmy Awards. To think that 24 years later he would be a guest on my web show is mind-blowing. What I loved about Phil the most was how he was always a huge advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, and I am forever grateful to him for that. He will be missed greatly and my heart goes out to his wife, Marlo. Phil’s legacy lives in so many of us, and I hope to continue to make him proud when it comes to hosting “A Spoonful of Paolo”.