Moriah Gill
Videos by Rare
Betty White’s career has spanned nearly a century, making her a household name. But as with any success, sacrifices have to be made. The Hollywood star has hosted Saturday Night Live, starred in The Golden Girls, Hot In Cleveland, and has authored multiple books. She did not, however, ever settle down and have kids.
Betty’s Career
Born in 1922 in Chicago, Illinois, she moved to California with her father during the Great Depression. As a child, she was friends with another comedic star, Lucille Ball. The two would later reboot a version of her husband’s game show. At 8 Betty got her first role on the radio on a show called Empire Builders, where she played an orphan. After a break from working in the entertainment industry, White experienced her first unsuccessful marriage and joined the American Women’s Voluntary Services in WWII. After that, she returned to entertainment and started working regularly. She started off hosting shows before the sitcom Life With Elizabeth sitcom. She later landed the Mary Tyler Moore Show where she won two Emmys. Then there was, of course, Golden Girls.
Betty White’s Love Life
Betty White didn’t have any kids of her own, but she is a step-mother of 3. She married thrice. Once to an army war veteran, Dick Barker. She even committed to living on his chicken farm, but they divorced just months after they were married. Years later she attempted love again and tied the knot a second time. Lane Allen, her second husband, wanted to have kids immediately but she wanted to focus on her career. This marriage also didn’t manage to last a year. Her final marriage was to TV game show host Allen Ludden in 1963. She met him on the set of his show, Password, where she was a guest panelist. He spent the next year asking her out. And she repeatedly told him no. But eventually, they got together and raised Ludden’s three teens, plus a few pups, together. The couple was married for 18 years until Ludden died of cancer in 1981. Thankful for her step-children, Betty White feels like she made the right decision to not have kids of her own. She’s admittedly an impulsive individual and said that having kids of her own wouldn’t have been conducive to her impulsivity. She has not remarried since Ludden, saying that she had the best and didn’t need anything else.
What’s Betty White Doing Now?
She’s working! Betty White doesn’t stop! She hosted SNL in 2010 after being asked almost five times and turning it down! She admits she was afraid to have to use cue cards, but she did it and conquered that fear! To date, she’s the oldest host that the show has ever had. The same year she started the TVLand series Hot In Cleveland with Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, and Wendie Malick. The show ended up running six seasons in all. White attributes her long life and career to simply being positive and happy!
