Beloved television icon Betty White suffered a stroke six days before her death on New Year’s Eve, according to her death certificate.
The Emmy award-winning actress died at age 99 at her Los Angeles home, just three weeks short of her 100th birthday, as a result of a “cerebrovascular accident”, according to her death certificate obtained by The Associated Press.
In a previously released statement to People Magazine, White’s agent and close friend, Jeff Witjas said the actress, “died peacefully in her sleep at her home”.
“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,” the statement said.
According to White’s Mama’s Family co-star, Vicki Lawrence, White’s assistant, who as with her when she passed, says the actress called out her late husband Allen’s name moment before she died.
Betty Marion White was born on January 17, 1922, in Oak Park, Illinois. White’s family moved to Los Angeles during the Great Depression, where she attended Beverly Hills High School.
White started her entertainment career in radio in the late 1930s and by 1939 had made her TV debut singing on an experimental channel in Los Angeles.
Best known for her portrayal of Sue Ann Nivens in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Rose Nyland in the 1980s hit sitcom The Golden Girls, White was an award winner and a star who pushed the norms of Hollywood.
In a 2015 interview with Oprah Winfrey White reflected on how lucky she was to be healthy and still working.
“Who would ever dream that I would not only be this healthy, but still be invited to work?” she said.
“That’s the privilege … to still have jobs to do is such a privilege.”