Betty White has passed just days away from her 100th birthday

Golden Girls star Betty White has sadly died at the age of 99, just days away from her 100th birthday. 

According to a statement released, the Hollywood icon passed away in her home on Friday (Dec 31, 2021) morning. 

Her agent Jeff Witjas told People magazine: “Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever.” President Joe Biden, Ryan Reynolds, and other stars took to their social media to pay tribute to the late actress, praising the star as a “cultural icon”.

Betty White enjoyed an illustrious career of more than eight decades, receiving eight Emmys, one Grammy and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. Considered a television pioneer, she pushed doors open not only for herself, but for many other women who dreamed of entering the broadcast industry. 

Born in Oakland, Illinois, in 1922, White began her career in 1939 singing an abridged version of Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow on an experimental television transmission. After the second world war, during which she worked with the American Women’s Voluntary Service, White found work appearing on radio shows such as The Great Gildersleeve, and provided voiceovers for radio commercials.

She co-hosted the live talkshow Hollywood on  television from 1949 to 1953.