National Enquirer Blind Item
WHICH retired talk-show host’s wife is such a difficult diva in restaurants that he actually apologizes to the staff in advance of their arrival? The beloved former interviewer will call the eatery before they get there and tell them his (semi-famous) wife suffers from dementia so they won’t take her outlandish demands seriously!
Phil Donahue
ReplyDeletePhil Donahue? Is he still alive?
ReplyDeleteIs Maurry retired?
I really hope it's not Marlo Thomas. I loved her in That Girl! and have heard very nice things about her. What about Regis Philbin?
ReplyDeleteRegis' wife - is her name Joy?
ReplyDeleteMaury's still testing baby daddies. What about Larry King?
ReplyDeleteRegis and Joy.
ReplyDeleteI seriously doubt it's Marlo Thomas. At least, I want to.
ReplyDeleteRegis Philbin!!
ReplyDeleteJoy Philbin, you minx
ReplyDeleteLarry King
ReplyDeleteThis is really sad. It could be Joy Philbin. She is semi-famous and Marlo is more famous.
ReplyDeleteI was confused when I first read this post because I thought it said "Which retarded talk-show host's wife...". So I was thinking how I believe some of them are in fact retarded, but who is Enty confirming so?
ReplyDeleteIf it in fact is retired, I'll go with Joy.
Pain in the ass, whoever it is. There's no excuse for such behavior, IMO. I can understand it on a rare occasional--maybe. But all the time?
ReplyDeleteIf you're that GD picky, hire your own chef in your own kitchen to cook JUST for you. Entitled a-holes.
(but it's nice for this husband to do this, however it does nothing to change her appalling behavior, and really enables it).
/rant over
Sorry, but this has to be Marlo Thomas. Can't say what she purchased, as it will give the plant away......but, she wanted her item sooner than agreed upon, she called the plant daily, using every foul word you can think up, trying to get the item sooner. NO ONE wanted to meet her, when she showed up to complain!!!! For Some things ,there is only so much a place can do. Knowing what I know, I can't look at her the same way ever again. Ever!! NOT A Nice Person!!
ReplyDeletewell, if it's really from dementia seems like, "okay, well, poor old thing." other wise tell that bitch to shut it.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's dementia, as she was like this, 20 + years ago. Not a nice person, and very much.."Pee on the little guy" attitude. Horrible.
ReplyDeleteMarlo Thomas is famous in her own right. You couldn't describe her as 'semi-famous.'
ReplyDeleteIt has to be Regis and Joy, who is a little well-known simply because she's married to Reeg.
ReplyDeleteJoy P.
ReplyDelete@Lizzie -- Had a similar experience related to charitable work. Not a nice woman at all. Quite the disappointment having loved That Girl. But if her dad did poop on tables (as someone posted last week), maybe she has "issues."
ReplyDeleteSorry to ask but who in the world is Marlo Thomas?
ReplyDeleteI immediately thought of Regis and Joy.
ReplyDeleteI've read that Marlo can be quite the bitch-oh, but she was very famous back in the day.
ReplyDeleteI'm leaning more towards Larry King's wife. Didn't she try to be a cabaret singer at one time?
I do think a person has to have a lot of issues to be that mean, and to continue that attitude, without feeling one once of feeling bad for treating people like that...awful.
ReplyDeleteMarlo, really isn't as famous as Phil, she hasn't done anything.. really since "that girl". I loved that show. But can't watch it any longer.
If its Marlo I give her a pass she does great work with St Jude's...
ReplyDeleteNo! Say it ain't so about Marlo! Why does Phil put up with her then, such a nice guy. I always resented Oprah for how all of America ran to her show and displaced Phil's which was terrific.
ReplyDeleteNo ones meaner than Camille Cosby. Talk about entitled. Shew!
ReplyDeleteHow about Maurys wife Connie Chung. I have the feeling its Marlo tho.
Gotta be Reeeeeggggiiisss.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely Phil and Marlo.
ReplyDeleteI just found this....it's very disturbing, and gross..
ReplyDeletehttp://www.marlothomas.info/
How can Marlo be so involved with such a great charity and be a major bitch? I think it is Joy Philbin! Semi famous because of Regis!
ReplyDelete@Hunter You've probably Googled this by now, but Marlo Thomas was the of a "single girl in the city" sitcom from the 1960s called "That Girl." I saw an episode recently and it hasn't aged well, although the clothes are fabulous.
ReplyDeleteShe also did a 1973 TV special called "Free to Be You and Me" which informed 1970s children that they could be whomever they wanted to be - astronaut, princess, parent - without regard to traditional gender roles. The teachers in our school used to play it whenever they'd come in late with a hangover. I probably saw it 20 or 30 times.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIf it's Marlo, I am very disapppointed.
ReplyDeleteDick Cavett?
ReplyDeleteMarlo's reputation has been shit for years. She is not semi-famous. Joy, sur l'autre main, is semi-famous not just because she's married to Regis, but she's hosted Live a bunch of times, and was even in a DeNiro film, as herself.
ReplyDeleteI'm going with Joy for this one.
I'm going with Marlo....us that remember her, remember very well....but she hasn't done anything acting-wise in a very very long time.
ReplyDeleteThis is 100% Marlo. One of my best friends was her assistant for a period of time, and OMG, the stories she told me. Marlo Thomas was NOTHING like innocent Ann Marie on That Girl. She would RAGE at her staff for the most ridiculous reasons...using profanities that you'd never think would come out of her mouth..."fucking cocksucker" being her favorite. She would send her assistants out on shopping trips to pick up a certain, specific item...like white tennis socks...and have them travel all over NY the entire day to bring back samples, and if none of them were to her liking, she'd scream at them. Poor Phil just stayed up in his work room and smoked pot...he apologized to the staff all the time and even gave them secret bonuses. Marlo would use her power to take credit in charity organizations...if you'd invite her to take part...someone, who had been working on the campaign for a long time would get their name taken off the flyers...and it would become a Marlo Thomas event. And even though they had money, Marlo was always trying to get things for free based on her name. Marlo would regularly bring staff people to tears, then mock them for crying. My friend called me once and I heard one of the tirades going on in the background. My friend took it for as long as she could (Marlo threatened to blackball anyone who quit...she'd give them a terrible reference)...and when she did quit she went into therapy to get over the abuse. One of Marlo's staff even wrote a 'tell all' book about her.
ReplyDeleteSorry to disillusion you--but she is one nasty piece of work.
Lizzie, the green background of that website has made me blind.
ReplyDeleteWOW! I am living under a rock, I had no idea about Marlo
ReplyDelete*head explodes*
WOW! I am living under a rock, I had no idea about Marlo
ReplyDelete*head explodes*
yikes...my first thought was Joy, but I really like Joy and was hoping it wasn't her...
ReplyDeleteapparently Marlo Thomas is a much bigger raving lunatic than I ever knew...I loved her on That Girl!
Well, I've always heard "never meet your heroes"...and this is exactly why...
@nolachickee I busted out laughing at that. I have done that so many times, good to know I'm not the only one.
ReplyDeleteI am covering my ears about Marlo being nasty. La La La I can't hear you!! La la la!!
Unknown, exactly!!! And, Vickie, yes that bright green bugged me too. :-)
ReplyDelete@Iknowpeople, I don't think her dad pooped on tables, he liked to be under a glass coffee table while a woman pooped on it. That makes it soooooo much more acceptable. NOT.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like Marlo is a class A bitch. Too bad, I liked her once.
Sad, but could be Marlo. Phil has always seemed a decent sort and sometimes you marry into something you do not expect even though you love that person aside from their flaws. Phil is a serious Irish Catholic so I can see how he has probably put up with it for years out of faith and devotion.
ReplyDeleteHere try this, it's easier on the eyes. :-)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.marlothomas1.com/
Based on her reputation for awful behavior, I'm going with Marlo and Phil. I was at Cafe Carlyle last year and sat across from the Philbins. They were *fine*, very relaxed during a long dinner and performance, rather lovey-dovey, charming to the staff, etc. No way this is Joy.
ReplyDeleteMarlo isn't semi-famous. Marlo is famous and was big in the 60's/70's. She had her own show, had a famous father who had his own show...and Marlo also does a lot of charity work. The BV is about someone's semi-famous wife, which would mean more or less, famous by association. Joy isn't famous or really known, she just is known for being the wife of Regis and for being a co-host a few times with him for his show.
ReplyDeleteRegis and Joy are my guess.
JOY! STOP HITTING THE WAITER WITH THAT BREADSTICK!!!!!
ReplyDeleteUnknown, I remember reading a similar story 20-25 years ago in "Star" or "NE." Something about Marlo's strict macrobiotic diet at the time, and she and Phil were giving a dinner party, and she screamed at the cook/maid/all of the staff present because there was cheese in something, and they were supposed to make TWO of whatever it was -- lasagna maybe, with one specially-made for her and one with cheese for the guests -- and she got served the wrong one or something. I don't even remember, except that it was a dinner party and she berated the staff. And that it happened ALL the TIME.
ReplyDeleteBut, yeah, I would call Marlo "famous" and maybe Joy "semi-famous," so I'd go with Joy for this one.
And I still adore St. Jude's and contribute to them whenever I can.
I think every human being in order to pass the ritual of becoming an adult should work in the food or service industry for at least a year. It's a horrible, awful industry and it's painfully obvious when dealing with someone who has never worked a job like serving. If you can't behave and treat the people working for you as human beings, you should be out, period.
ReplyDeleteI also think it's the everyone's responsibility to call their mates out on being a prick too. If your friend doesn't tip or treats the server like shit, you're just as culpable for not saying anything. Shit, I speak up when I don't even know the fuckwad. Ugh.
Also heard many many many years ago Marlo a class a bitch, and her farher too. Berating people, using foul lingo. Now, I'm wondering, is the husband lying she gas dementia cause she so bitchy, or does she really have it?
ReplyDelete'has', not gas, lol
DeleteMarlo is semi-famous...not famous. She used to be VERY famous. But she was famous for ONE TV series and ONE TV special...she did some theater. But ask anyone under 30 if they've ever heard from her, and they haven't.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely check out the book, "That Girl and Phil" by Desmond Atholl..a former butler. One one section, the self-proclaimed feminist plots to fire a pregnant staff worker because she might need days off to care for her child, if it became sick. The best passage, however comes when the staff decorates Marlo and Phil's house for Christmas, including the tree. MT has a bad day, takes a look at the room and screams obscenities at the entire staff. I'll quote a passage for those who can't get the 'out of print' book.
"Marlo went on a rampage throughout the entire house in search of what she deemed to be 'imperfections'. Screaming her usual litany of obscenities and complaints she pulled throws off the beds and threw soaps she felt were unsuitable onto the bathroom floors...in a matter of minutes, two days of meticulous and loving attention for detail was destroyed for something that had obviously occured earlier in her day..."This" she bellowed, while pointing at the beautiful Christmas tree, "is your fault, fuckers"..vibrating out of control she began to strip the tree bare, wildly pulling at it in such a way I thought it was going to fall over on top of her. Miss Thomas desperately kept trying to reach the top of the tree, but at five foot four, she was unable. "Desmond, get me the footstool!" I stared at her in complete astonishment as the new butler began to cry. Marlo called him a 'spineless wimp", and with the assitance of the footstool continued her frenzy of dismantling the tree."
Oh Hamster I totally agree with that. My idea of hell is to have people like that wait table after table of someone exactly like them.
ReplyDeleteI too think this is Marlo after hearing all these tales. And poor Phil.
Oh people get a grip. Joy Philbin is still performing with Regis. Good Heavens!
ReplyDeleteAnd who ARE you Unknown? You have had some goooood inside information. Suhweet
ReplyDelete@auntliddy Marlo has gas?
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to be unknown...exactly, it just doesn't give me an option to come up with a screen name. Anyway, I grew up in the film/tv industry...I'm a screenwriter who regularly reads these blind items when I should be working towards a deadline...yeah, I do have some juicy stories...mostly about people that no one cares about as much anymore...but a few that are more recent. I'll post some of them from time to time.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete(I have to admit that I've not EVER heard any bad stories about Danny. Given that I am a HUGE fan of St. Jude's, I could probably forgive that man many things anyway. He liked to watch girls poop on coffee tables? Really? It's the first I've ever heard of it here, and strangely, it doesn't bother me. I guess it's because of those thousands or maybe millions of children who've walked through those doors in Memphis. THAT, to me, is his legacy, and that is what I will choose to respect him for.)
ReplyDelete@AKM, that is a very old and very well-known story in the bizzz. Danny Thomas used to cheat on his wife and humiliate girls who were coming to him to get into show business.
ReplyDeleteI believe this is Marlo Thomas. I have actually no doubt this is her.
ReplyDeleteI would say it is Marlo Thomas. I don't think it is Joy Philbin. I think she has a reputation for being quite proper and lady like. Marlo, on the other hand, is known to be a handful...
ReplyDeleteMany years ago a friend worked at a well-known hotel in Maui which had a lot of famous guests. She said hands down that Marlo Thomas was the most demanding, unpleasant person she encountered. Phil Donahue sometimes answered the door for room service and Marlo would be in the background screaming---he would shrug his shoulders and mouth "sorry". Fits with the blind item.
ReplyDeleteFor those who can not separate St. Jude's Hospital from Marlo Thomas or Danny Thomas her father keep in mind that it is the doctors, nurses and staff who make that hospital the marvelous hospital that it is.
ReplyDeleteWhile the Thomas's are credited with starting the hospital it is separate from the personalities/celebrities involved. It has been shown on here that celebrities have the money and the desire to do good deeds but in their private life are not good people.
Here is a story....I once heard of Danny Thomas and his manager using such fowl language I wondered at the time how words like that could really exist. He probably did it because he felt entitled to do so and by doing so thought it would get him what he wanted but it most likely did not work. I think this is Marlo Thomas....
"How can Marlo be so involved with such a great charity and be a major bitch? "
ReplyDelete@RomanHoliday, she inherited it. Her role there is primarily to be her father's daughter as he founded the hospital.
No one is all bad or all good, and so I don't want to say she does it only because she has to, or because it gets her attention. I'm sure seeing children get better warms the cockles of her otherwise stone cold heart.
But as for interaction with almost anyone else in the human race, I have heard nothing good about Marlo Thomas in years. And some of it, like told here, horribly bad.
For some of us she was once very famous for That Girl or Free to Be You and Me. But for anyone under about 35-40, she is the lady on the St. Jude commercial and occasional guest star on a TV show. So, semi-famous to a large part of the country.
Sad about Marlo if all that's true. :-( Just saw her on Broadway in a play with a friend of mine and she was excellent. Terrible, TERRIBLE plastic surgery on her, however - people in the audience gasped; didn't even recognize her. If she is indeed as bad as y'all say, there's her karma coming back at her already, right there. She WAS famous, not just for That Girl & "Free to Be," but a number of MOW's back in their heyday. Very active in charity work. And her Dad was an icon.
ReplyDeleteI never heard anything negative about Danny Thomas. He was a very devout Catholic and good family man. I've heard Marlo is difficult. I think she's a typical limousine liberal. I do admire the fact that she and her siblings took over the responsibilities for raising money for St. Jude's Hospital, though.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't doubt it about Marlo Thomas. I live in Memphis and have friends who work for St. Jude in the business office. They say when she is there she is a real bitch. They are instructed not to look her in the eye or speak to her unless she speaks to them first. I am not sure if she treats any of the medical staff or patients that way.
ReplyDeleteEven if this blind ISN'T about Marlo, she sounds like a real see you next Tuesday. What happened in the past to make people behave like that? Where does all that rage come from? Not to mention the stupidity. I mean, why make enemies of the people who work for you and make your meals? She really can't believe that when someone she has yelled at for no reason, puts a plate in front of her that there isn't a little something extra in her meal?
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised no one has mentioned MT played Rachel's mom on friends. I know of her prior series but I think I've really only seen her on Friends.
ReplyDeleteFunny, I was just showing my daughter YouTube clips from Mary Tyler Moore and That Girl yesterday. Her first comment about Mary was how beautiful she was, and her first comment about Marlo was how ugly she was. I thought that was so weird since I didn't think they looked that different from each other....
ReplyDeleteWhoa. In my youth Marlo Thomas was all I could dream of being. Now she's an ogre who will visit me in my nightmares. Thanks, guys.
ReplyDeleteBlame Marlo...they're just reporting their experiences. ;) but yeah, it's disappointing that the lady from "free to be you and me" is a raging.b*tch IRL. :(
ReplyDeleteNo, it's all this board's fault, dammit! Who put this Christmas tree in here? This is your fault, too, board!! (sounds of tree crying)
ReplyDelete