Betty White passed away just weeks before her 100th birthday, and the entire world mourned her loss.
Now, months have gone by since Betty’s passing. Her birthday was supposed to be celebrated with a huge party, and a special message had been pre-recorded for her fans.
Shortly after Betty died, her assistant posted the message she had filmed, alongside a text on her Instagram page, revealing the last confession the legendary actress made. Its message only served to confirm that Betty was indeed an extraordinary person.
On December 31 of last year, Betty White passed away. The news shocked many fans, and the legendary actress was honored worldwide.
Her close friend and agent Jeff Witjas told People that she “died peacefully in her sleep at her home.”
“Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever,” Witjas told People in a statement.
“I will miss her terribly, and so will the animal world that she loved so much. I don’t think Betty ever feared passing because she always wanted to be with her most beloved husband, Allen Ludden. She believed she would be with him again.”
Betty White dead at 99
After her passing became known to the public, Hollywood paid tribute to Betty. She lived her life to the fullest, right to the end, though in the last few years of her life, the actress was forced to live a life that she didn’t want.
Born on January 17, 1922, in Oak Park, Illinois, Betty was the only child of parents Horace White and Tess Curts White. Her family moved to Los Angeles during the Great Depression, and as a child, White didn’t contemplate a career in acting.
Instead, she dreamed about working as a forest ranger or a writer. Then, while in high school, she fell in love with acting.
After graduating high school, Betty had found her true passion in acting. She first worked in radio, and had her own show, The Betty White Show. Not long after, she moved on to be an assistant at a local television station.
While working in local television, it was a sketch that became White’s ticket to fame. Then, in the early 1950s, Betty, alongside George Tibbles, launched her first television series, Life with Elizabeth.
“He wrote, and I produced,” White told The Hollywood Reporter. “I was one of the first women producers in Hollywood.”
It was clear from the beginning that Betty was a tremendous talent in Hollywood.
Betty White – career
She took over the reins of television, and in 1951, she was nominated for her first Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actress. It was groundbreaking, since it was the first-ever category to recognize the achievements of women at the Emmy Awards.
Betty co-hosted the variety show Hollywood on Television alongside Al Jarvis in 1949, and three years later, she became the sole host. She spent countless hours working on the show, six days a week for four years.
Betty White’s career in show business had just started, but by the time the 1950s arrived, she had already been married twice: first to Dick Barker, then to Lane Allen. Unfortunately, neither marriage lasted long, with both ending in divorce.
She met her third husband, Allen Ludden, on the game show Password in the 1960s. He was the host, and the pair immediately hit it off.
Betty was cautious at the start, given her two failed marriages, but when she met Allen again on the set of a play they were both in, she knew this was the real deal, and they started dating.
Unfortunately, the two stars lived at opposite ends of the country — Betty in California and Allen in New York. Nevertheless, they maintained a long-distance relationship for a while. Eventually, Allen proposed to Betty, only to turn him down as she didn’t want to relocate to New York.
Married three times
Despite her refusal, however, Allen didn’t give up. Instead, he persisted with the proposals, and, eventually, Betty said yes.
The two tied the knot in 1963 and enjoyed successful careers while blissfully in love. Sadly, in 1981, Allen passed away from stomach cancer, and Betty never remarried.
It was from via that marriage that she became a proud stepmother to three step kids, who called her “Dragon Lady.”
Now, their relationship wasn’t all that great in the beginning. As reported by Closer, stepdaughter Martha had “some anger” towards Betty when her father remarried.
“Martha was young, and she deeply opposed the marriage. She was very angry at her father and made it clear she did not like Betty.”
An insider added that Allen and Martha’s father-daughter relationship was “strained from the start.” However, his marriage to White was a tipping point.
“Allen used to argue with Martha constantly over her anger towards Betty,” the source explained.
“Her tumultuous relationship with her father caused him a lot of grief.”
Why Betty White never remarried
In an interview with Oprah, Betty revealed that her only regret in life was not spending more time with Allen in the 1960s.
“I spent a whole year, wasted a whole year that Allen and I could have had together, saying, ‘No, I wouldn’t marry him. No, I won’t, No, I won’t leave California. No, I won’t move to New York,’” she recalled. “I wasted a whole year we could have had together.”
Betty also explained why she had no interest in a fourth marriage: “Once you’ve had the best, who needs the rest?”
Betty was a massive star in the sitcom category of television, and in 1973, she took the next step toward becoming a true legend.
Starring as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, White – alongside co-stars Mary Tyler Moore, Ed Asner, and Cloris Leachman, among others – cemented herself a spot in television history thanks to her portrayal of Sue Ann Nivens.
“Nobody knew going in that The Mary Tyler Moore Show would be an all-time classic,” she said in her 1997 Television Academy interview.
“In the fourth season, I got a call one week, would I do that week’s Mary Tyler Moore Show, from casting. They wanted a happy homemaker who was a sickening, icky Betty White type.”
Betty received two Emmys for her performance on The Mary Tyler Moore Show for Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series two years in a row.
‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ & ‘Golden Girls’
“When they announced my name that night, and Ed Asner presented it to me, I was a mess,” White recalled.
“I was so excited, so happy. And so grateful. I started out as an actress in the business, but then I did game shows and talk shows. I became a ‘television personality.’ So everybody was so surprised. ‘Why Betty can act, isn’t that amazing?’ It really did turn my career completely around.”
In the 1980s through the 1990s, Betty continued to show her great talents while starring as Rose Nylund on the hit show The Golden Girls. She moved on to appear in numerous television shows and films until 2019, when she was credited with her last ever role.
After that, it seemed like nothing could stop Betty White from living the good life. Indeed, she never stopped living it. Betty said several times that she probably should have followed a better diet, but in the end, she felt like as though the diet she had was key to her long and happy life.
“But hot dogs and Red Vines and potato chips and French fries are my favorite foods. There’s no spare time, so I’m active all the time. I think that forces you to stay well,” she told People in 2012.
“You better realize how good life is while it’s happening,” she said in another interview. “Because before you know it, it will all be gone.”
Betty White – net worth
Betty did her last interview just weeks before her death, saying that she looked forward to celebrating her 100th birthday. Sadly, that didn’t happen, but according to White, she was feeling great to the end. At the time of her passing, White had a net worth of around $75 million.
Interestingly, though, the last years of her life weren’t exactly as she would have wanted them to be. Betty lived for many years in her oceanside house in Carmel, California, just outside Monterey, which she and her late husband Allen Ludden built back in 1978. She also had a five-bedroom, six-bathroom home in Brentwood in West Los Angeles.
According to the New York Post, Betty was forced against her will to leave her Carmel home in her final years. She didn’t want to live in Brentwood, but she had to.
Betty passed away only weeks short of her 100th birthday, which would’ve been on January 17. The special day saw many of her friends celebrating her life, while several celebrities posted tributes to White on social media.
One of them was Betty’s assistant, Kiersten Mikelas. Through White’s Facebook page, she posted a wonderful tribute – alongside one of the last photos taken of the Hollywood star.
Last ever photo of Betty White
“Hello, Everyone! It’s Kiersten. Betty’s Assistant. On this special day, I wanted to share this photo of Betty. It was taken on 12/20/21,” Kirsten wrote.
“I believe it’s one of the last photos of her. She was radiant and beautiful and as happy as ever. Thanks to all of you who are doing kind things today and every day to make the world a better place.”
In a second post, Kiersten wrote that she didn’t have many photos with Betty. She never felt like she “wanted to impose since she was always asked to take photos with people” wherever they went. However, on December 20, Kiersten asked her for one.
“I’m so glad I did. A wonderful memory of a happy, fun-filled day,” Kiersten wrote in the Instagram post.
As mentioned, Betty was to celebrate her 100th birthday on January 17. The momentous milestone was, of course, set to be celebrated, and the main character herself had some very special plans made up.
In a press release, Betty said it was to be celebrated with a once-in-a-lifetime movie event named Betty White: 100 Years Young – A Birthday Celebration.
The film was to look at her successful career, alongside new interviews and behind-the-scenes material.
“Who doesn’t love a party?!? This one is gonna be GREAT!” White said in a statement.
Betty White’s final confession in video days before passing
Before the big day, White’s team had also planned for one very heartfelt video, which was set to be released to her fans on her 100th birthday. The clip was recorded just days before she passed away – after her death, it was released anyway.
“I just want to thank you all for your love and support over the years. Thank you so much, and stick around,” White said in the clip recorded on December 20.
Her team – including personal assistant Kiersten – thanked the fans who had honored betty White’s life by donating money to an animal shelter and rescues. It was part of the Betty White Challenge, which went viral after her passing.
“She could never have imagined such an outpouring of love and would have been so grateful to everyone,” they wrote.
“She was using the occasion of her 100th birthday to celebrate YOU — her fans, she knew how lucky she was.
“She felt the love, and she never took it for granted. I think it’s appropriate to post today as a thank [you] from Betty and the animals.”
Betty White will forever be remembered as a legend. Her last video is genuinely heartbreaking, but at the same time, we are not one percent surprised that she decided to dedicate her time to her fans.
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