Legendary Golden Girls actress Betty White has died just weeks before her 100th birthday, according to multiple reports.
The ExaminerLIVE particularly reports that the popular star best known for starring as Rose in the 1980s sitcom was due to celebrate her milestone birthday on January 17.
She made this known via a poignant post on Twitter on December 28, in which she said: “My 100th birthday… I cannot believe it is coming up, and People Magazine is celebrating with me!
“The new issue of @people is available on newsstands nationwide tomorrow.”
Her agent Jeff Witjas has confirmed the sad news to PEOPLE, saying in a statement: “Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever.
“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.”
In 2015, the actress was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award and said that she felt “privileged” to still be working as she accepted the prize.
She said at the time: “I had no idea that I would still be alive at this point for one thing, but I’d still be privileged enough to still be in this business.”
“Oh, my goodness, I cannot tell you what this means.
“So much thanks to you and your mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers,’ she said as the audience giggled along… And a couple of great-grandfathers when I was younger.”
Betty had been gearing up to celebrate her centennial birthday on January 17 and, in her last interview before her death, said that she felt “so lucky to be in such good health”.
She told PEOPLE : “I’m so lucky to be in such good health and feel so good at this age. It’s amazing.
“I try to avoid anything green. I think it’s working.”
She said being “born a cockeyed optimist” is the key to her upbeat nature.
