The marital manual was literally written by Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue.

The long-married pair shares personal details of their marriage in their book, What Makes a Marriage Las: 40 Celebrated Couples Share with Us the Secrets

In the book, the celebrity shared her formerly pessimistic viewpoint on the institution: “Marriage is like a vacuum cleaner: you stick it to your ear, and it sucks out all your energy and ambition.”

Thomas expresses her sentiments often, comparing marriage to being a prisoner that one must appease. Until she met Donahue, that is.

After Phil Donahue’s first marriage ended in divorce, Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue both met one another, and now they are lifelong friends.

Phil Donahue rose to fame in the public eye with his show, “The Phil Donahue Show,” which was later rebranded as just “Donahue.” The program featured audience participation for the first time and ran for 29 years. Marlo Thomas was one of the guests on his show who completely altered the course of his life.