Dear Abby was Pauline Phillips, also known as Abigail Van Buren. Her twin sister, Esther Pauline Friedman, was known as Ann Landers.
So both Ann Landers and Dear Abby were twin sisters who found a niche business and ran with it. I think a daughter or two is going on with the business.
It’s been her daughter Jeanne for some time now.
Eppie and Popo. (As they called themselves.) Married in a double-wedding ceremony. Each twin kept the same hair-do all her adult life.
Eppie (“Ann Landers”) was actually known back in the day for being a bit more ‘real’ and irreverent than was Dear Abby: Eppie and her husband were divorced (unlike Popo) and that gave her a more cynical perspective. I don’t think she ever “phoned it in.”
I had no idea Jeanne was now 82. Time, stop flashing by!
We live in an era where there is professional commercial help available for any/everything if you can afford it. And free, if under-supplied, help too if you can’t.
Advising somebody to DIY [whatever] rather than consult a pro is soooo 1980s and before.
She’d be guilty of Agony Aunt malpractice if her first sentence wasn’t "Seek pro help at 1-800-WHA-TEVER or www.whatever.org.
Roger Ebert tells a story of when he was just starting at the Chicago Sun-Times. Ann Landers was a star attraction back then, but she preferred to work in the newsroom (leaving her staff to sort the mail in a separate office) because she actually enjoyed the atmosphere in there. One day, according to Ebert, the reporter in the cubicle next to her was on the phone, leaning back in his office chair, when suddenly it tipped over. Landers, who was also on the phone, casually opened her desk drawer, pulled out one of her advice brochures titled “How to Tell When You Have a Drinking Problem,” and tossed it over the wall to her coworker.
Oh, man, that’s great. Eppie was cool!
That reminds me; the Dear Abby column still offers those booklets. “Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $8 (U.S. funds) to . . .” Never mind that mailing a check is kind of quaint, let alone the mailing out of a printed booklet. Surely all of the information could just be posted to a website?
Except for the “collecting $8” part. 
I remember Ann Landers was a little more caustic than her sister. One letter she got was from a widower who missed female companionship so much, he’d go to his sister’s house for a roll in the hay. He said we’re not hurting anybody, etc.
She replied “Sick, sick, sick. If I knew your address, I’d send you a get well card.”
Man I must be too sensitive as a wave of nausea rolled over me.