Florence “Flo” Anthony, a pioneering entertainment journalist who spent decades covering Black celebrity culture, has died. She was 74.
Anthony passed away on Thursday, Aug. 6, Jack Hirsch, the biographer for her husband, boxing legend Michael Spinks, told the New York Amsterdam News. The outlet reported Anthony had been battling cancer.
She had a long relationship with the publication, and wrote its “Go With the Flo” column since 2001.
Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Anthony graduated from Howard University and began her career as a publicist for boxing legends, including Spinks, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, and Matthew Saad Muhammad.
She began dating Spinks in the 1980s and they were married in January 2026.
After working in public relations, Anthony transitioned to journalism. She wrote for the Philadelphia Sun before becoming the first Black reporter in the New York Post’s Page Six section.
She later broke another barrier as the first Black celebrity gossip columnist for the National Examiner tabloid.
Over the course of her career, Anthony reported for the New York Daily News. She served as publisher and editor-in-chief of Black Noir magazine, and worked in radio.
On television, she contributed reports to Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition, Fox News and MSNBC.
Anthony was also an author. Simon & Schuster published some of her books, including the mystery novel Deadly Stuff Players in 2013, followed by its sequel, One Last Deadly Play.
According to the publisher’s website, Anthony lived in the East Harlem section of New York City.
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