On New Year’s Eve 2021 we lost an iconic actress and star. Betty White’s death wasn’t just the closing of a chapter — it was the final scene of a comedy-drama masterpiece that ran for nearly a century. America’s cheekiest sweetheart, with her razor-sharp wit, unstoppable charm, and a sparkle in her eye that could light up an awards show, bowed out at the grand age of 99.
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From the final days of TV’s most beloved trailblazer to the fate of her multimillion-dollar estate, here’s the inside scoop on the golden legacy of the Golden Girl.
Betty White’s peaceful death at 99
On 31 December 2021, Betty White died peacefully in her sleep at her home. According to her death certificate obtained by People, the 99-year-old actress had suffered a mild stroke six days prior, classified as a cerebrovascular accident.
Her agent and close friend Jeff Witjas confirmed that her death was natural and pain-free. He said:
Betty passed in her sleep peacefully without pain. To me this is the most important thing and brings me comfort as her dear friend. Anything else is private to Betty.
White, who was preparing to celebrate her 100th birthday just weeks later, had openly expressed a healthy and even cheerful attitude toward death. In a 2012 interview with TimesTalks, she said she had ‘no fear or dread of death.’
She credited her mother’s outlook for her own attitude, sharing:
My mother had a wonderful approach to death. She always thought of it as — she said, 'We know we have managed to find out almost anything that exists, but nobody knows ... what happens at that moment when it's over.'
And she said, 'It's the one secret that we don't know.' So whenever we would lose somebody very close and very dear, she would always say, 'Well, now he knows the secret.' And it took the curse off of it somehow.
Witjas also told People that White never feared death because she always believed she would reunite with her beloved husband Allen Ludden. He shared:
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.
While White was ready to say goodbye, her life had been filled with stories that were far from ordinary — especially when it came to love.
A look into Betty White’s personal life
White was married three times in her life. Her first was to Dick Barker. They married in 1945 but the marriage lasted only a few months. She once joked about the brief union, telling Closer:
It lasted six months and we were in bed for six months!
In 1947, she married talent agent Lane Allen, but that also ended in 1949. Allen wanted her to give up her career, but Betty chose her path. She said in her Lifetime Intimate Portrait:
When you have a calling you have to follow it, so I made the choice, blew the marriage, and I've never regretted it.
Her third marriage was to game show host Allen Ludden in 1963. This was the one she called the real thing. Despite initially refusing his proposals for over a year, White eventually accepted. She later told the Television Academy that she regretted delaying the marriage:
I would've given anything to have had it back. It was a love affair. We really had - we missed 18 years by three days but it was still a honeymoon.
Betty never remarried after Ludden's death in 1981 from stomach cancer at just 63. Speaking to Anderson Cooper, she said:
If you've had the best who needs the rest?
Through Allen, Betty became a stepmother to his three children — David, Martha, and Sarah — from his previous marriage. While she had chosen not to have biological children in order to focus on her career, she fully embraced the role of stepmother. She told People:
It turned out great.
I married someone who had three children. And how blessed I was to have those three stepchildren.
The kids lovingly called her ‘Dragon Lady.’ Even in her memoir, Betty wrote fondly of her stepchildren, saying:
Even after all these years, we love each other dearly, and I am most proud of the children that this career girl inherited.
Betty was married three times, had three step-childrne, and managed to build a family and fortune most of us can only dream about.
Who inherited Betty White’s fortune?
White's net worth at the time of her death was estimated at around $75 million. According to Gold Leaf Estate Planning, the majority of her estate was left to a trust supporting animal charities, a cause that had been close to her heart throughout her life.
White was known for her devotion to animals and had once joked, as reported by CNN:
I have to stay in show business to pay for my animal business.
That dedication continued even after her death.
A source said, as per OK! Magazine, that the trust is 'dedicated to helping the animal causes and shelters she gave to so generously during her lifetime.'
Her most treasured belongings, including her costumes, jewellery, memorabilia, and even her seven Emmy Awards, were auctioned to benefit animal charities.
White also reportedly set up a pet trust to ensure her own pets were taken care of. According to Gold Leaf Estate Planning, her stepchildren David, Martha, and Sarah Ludden were not named in her will.
White also received most of Allen Ludden’s retirement savings and properties after his passing too and the kids only got ‘limited’ inheritance, but there was reportedly no 'bitterness' between her and the children.
Her Brentwood home, which she had purchased with Ludden in 1968, was sold by her estate for $10.7 million just a month after her death.
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Sources used:
People: Betty White Died After Suffering a Stroke, Death Certificate Reveals
People: Why Betty White Never Had Kids of Her Own, But Relished Her Role as Stepmom
Gold Leaf Estate Planning: Who Received Betty White’s Estate?
OK!: What Happened To Betty White's $75 Million Fortune?
Daily Mail: A look back at Betty White's three husbands: The wartime romance, the talent agent who wanted her out of showbiz and the love of her life she lost to cancer before her Golden Girls fame
