Betty White, RIP

Gina Alexander

Very sad news: the wonderful Betty White died today at age 99. She was already getting ready to celebrate her 100th birthday on January 1`7.

"Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever," her agent and close friend Jeff Witjas told People in a statement on Friday. "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 was set to celebrate her 100th birthday with a cover story in People. where she said her secret to longevity was "I try to avoid anything green. I think it's working."

Best known as Rose Nylund on classic sitcom The Golden Girls, Betty White had worked in television since 1949, longer than anyone else in the industry according to the 2018 Guiness Book of World Records. She was also a cast member of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Hot in Cleveland, and she was one of the best celebrity game show guests of all time, with regular appearances on Password, Match Game, Tattletales, To Tell the Truth, The Hollywood Squares and The $25,000 Pyramid.

Betty was also a great humanitarian and animal health advocate, working with Los Angeles Zoo Commission, The Morris Animal Foundation, African Wildlife Foundation, and Actors & Others for Animals. In the '70s she hosted The Pet Set about celebrities and their pets.

Betty, there will never be another like you. Rest in peace.