For those of you reading this when I post it, Monday is Betty White’s 100th birthday.
The iconic actress passed away on New Year’s Eve, breaking many hearts when they saw the news. I saw it posted on Facebook and didn’t think it was real. Then I went online and saw the news for myself. It was revealed on January 10 that she passed away after suffering a stroke, according to CNN.
We all thought she would live to be 100 on January 17. Despite the fact she’s not here physically, I think everyone should celebrate. Watch your favorite Golden Girls episode or find clips of her best Rose Nylund moments on YouTube. I’m sure there’s a great St. Olaf story that will make you laugh.
I know, Betty White did more than just Golden Girls. Most of us may remember her from the Mary Tyler Moore show as the host of The Happy Homemaker Sue Ann Nivens. Some of us may remember her from The Family sketches (and even the early run of Mama’s Family) as Mama’s hoity toity, snobbish daughter Ellen, or even her starring role in TVLand’s Hot in Cleveland.
Betty White loved her husband of 18 years, Allen Ludden. He passed away in 1981 and is best known as the host of various reincarnations of Password. White was a regular on Password and many other game shows such as Match Game, To Tell the Truth, and $25000 Pyramid. Ludden and White met on Password, and proposed to her twice before she accepted. They appeared in a couple of theatre productions before they were married in June of 1963.
While Betty White was off the radar for a white, she regained popularity after appearing in The Proposal in 2009 with Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock. Ryan Reynolds honored Betty White with an emotional tweet. Here is that tweet.
“The world looks different now. She was great at defying expectation. She managed to grow very old and somehow, not old enough. We’ll miss you, Betty. Now you know the secret.”
The last line of Reynolds’ tweet is a throwback to a moment in an interview where White shared a quote from her mother about death. It’s enough to make you tear up, so if you’ve managed to dry your eyes by now — grab some more tissues.
“My mother had the most wonderful approach … we know almost everything in the world, but we don’t know what happens in that moment … so whenever we lose somebody, she’d say ‘now he knows the secret.’”
Tomorrow I will watch some of the best Rose episodes from Golden Girls, in honor of Betty White’s 100th birthday. Maybe I’ll have have a slice of cheesecake and tell some crazy St. Olaf story that bores everyone. Or, I’ll post pictures of dogs and cats in honor of her love of animals, which is another blog post for another day.
Happy 💯 in heaven. Betty White.
Thank you for being a friend.
Stylish 🍒 