Betty Marion White Ludden (January 17, 1922 - December 31, 2021)
Betty White was a legend, her career spanned 7 decades. Seven decades that she was in our living rooms, on our radios, and in our hearts. Who didn't love Betty White? I am sure that there is someone, but they are in the vast minority.
Betty had a lot of consistency to her styling, you knew what you were going to get when she showed up at an event. Her hair was a cloud of curls that framed her face and she was usually in a pantsuit or dress that looked great on her but was not over the top. She wasn't overly flashy or in your face, but was sassy and fierce. I described her elsewhere as concentrated joy in an "I do what I want" bottle. We are lucky to have shared the world with her, and hope that wherever she is now, she knows how beloved she was!
BETTY'S LOOKS OVER THE YEARS
The role that Betty was most well known for was that of Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls. Rose was seemingly styled very similarly to Betty's own aesthetic. Basic jewelry staples accessorized her pastel dresses and pantsuits.
Young Betty was a true beauty, but as she was a comedienne and not a starlet bombshell, she was able to rely on her talent. She could have been a bombshell or pinup model, but that was not her chosen path. She accessorized well, her jewelry choices were lovely but she remained the focus of her look.
BETTY'S LOVE
Betty's third husband was the true love of her life, she chose not to remarry after his death in 1981.
At age 89, in a chat with the Daily Mail, White had this to say about her marriage with Ludden and why she never remarried.
"Once you've had the best, who needs the rest. I made two mistakes before Allen, but the love of your life doesn't come along in every life, so I am very grateful that I found him."
White found love and romance that she knew was that once-in-a-lifetime type of companionship, and she knew she'd already had "the best." For White, no other relationship would have been enough in the capacity of life-long companionship.
A statement from White's rep, which fans can find a deep sense of solace in, actually mentioned that White didn't fear passing on, because she knew she would be with her great love again. Jeff Witjas shared the following note with People Magazine.
"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." stated Jeff Witjas.
"She keeps a photo of him on her bedside table and blows him a kiss every morning," longtime executive personal assistant Kiersten Mikelas recently told People. "At night, when she opens the shutters, she blows a kiss to him up in the sky."
When his former wife passed away, and he was ready to move on, he asked Betty to marry him as a greeting each time he saw her. He carried a ring and once she had turned it down, he wasn't ready to give up. Ludden wore the ring on a chain around his neck each time they were together so that his proposal remained visible. He spent as much time as he could with Betty, and continued to propose. For Easter, he gifted her with a sweet stuffed bunny with diamond and sapphire earrings on its ears. He called her that evening, and she finally agreed to marry him - not for the earrings, she laughs, but for the stuffed bunny.
Her regret in the situation was that she wasted a year that they could have been together out of fear. She told Oprah that she wished she could have that year back.
GET BETTY'S LOOK
Thank you, Betty White, for bringing so much joy and sass to our lives. Thank you for consistently remaining a font of (mostly) positivity, no matter what else was happening in the world. You will be missed.
What was your favorite Betty White look? Which era's looks did you love on Betty? Let us know in the comments section below.
Written by Kayti Kawachi
