Phoenix's love life was often fodder for tabloid stories. Her first marriage was to actor Peter Marsh, whom she married in Bradford Cathedral in 1953; the marriage lasted only a year, and the couple divorced in 1961. On 23 December 1972, she married her "Coronation Street" co-star Alan Browning. The marriage lasted less than seven years, as Browning had alcohol-related problems and died from liver failure in September 1979. She later married actor Anthony Booth, the father-in-law of future Prime Minister Tony Blair.