Phil Donahue, long-time US talk show host, has died at the age of 88.

The host of the groundbreaking television show “The Phil Donahue Show,” later renamed “Donahue,” died after a long illness, according to his family, who confirmed the news to the Today Show. He was surrounded by his loved ones.

Donahue hosted over 6,000 episodes and covered a wide range of topics, including alcoholism, abortion and incest. Oprah Winfrey once said, “Without Phil Donahue, there would never have been an Oprah Show.”

“We started on location in Dayton with two cameras and no stars – we could only afford to fly in two guests a week,” Donahue said in an interview with Winfrey. “We had no couches, no announcers, no band and no folding chairs, no jokes. I didn’t say, ‘Get down!’ We knew we were visually boring, so we had to focus on expenses – that’s what made us come alive.

The Phil Donahue Show began in 1967 and aired nationally in 1970 before being renamed “Donahue” in 1974.

Donahue raised issues that divided Americans and sparked important conversations. The show once featured a filmed abortion, which the host claimed was the episode most local stations refused to air.

Politically, he was associated with Democratic candidate Ralph Nader, who became the show’s most frequent guest in 2000 when Donahue campaigned for him.

He also spoke out for the rights of women, people of color and the LGBTQ+ community.

“Being gay is not a moral problem, but no institution in the world has promoted homophobia more than the Church,” he said. “That is the irony of the scandal in the Catholic Church.”

The last episode aired in 1996, and from 2002 to 2003, Donahue hosted a show on MSNBC. After that show was canceled, it was criticized in a leaked internal memo for being “a home for the liberal anti-war agenda” because Donahue opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

In 2006, Donahue also co-directed the documentary film Body of War, which follows a disabled Iraq War veteran.

Over the course of his career, he has received 20 Emmy Awards and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Joe Biden this year.

In 2002, Donahue told Winfrey, “I’m an American, just like you, and I’m impressed with the Bill of Rights. I believe a woman’s home should be her castle. I believe that the separation of church and state makes both church and state stronger. And I believe in the privilege of lawyer-client conversations. People can yell at me, they can criticize me, they can call me names. But there’s one thing they can’t do: They can’t take away my flag.”