The 'Golden Girls' star died on Dec. 31.
Vicki Lawrence, Betty White’s longtime friend and Mama’s Family co-star, is opening up about the actress' final moments. White died on Dec. 31, just weeks before her 100th birthday.
Lawrence, who first met White on The Carol Burnett Show, told The Hollywood Reporter what is believed to be what the Golden Girls star said before she passed, according to Carol Burnett.
“[Carol] said she spoke to Betty’s assistant, who was with her when she passed, and she said the last word out of her mouth was 'Allen,'" Lawrence said. White’s husband was Password host Allen Ludden, and he died in 1981 after a battle with stomach cancer.
"That’s so lovingly sweet. I hope that is true," Lawrence added.
As for her relationship with with White before her death, 72-year-old Lawrence told THR, “I hadn’t been able to reach her lately. I wrote her a long letter a while back but she did not answer, which was unlike her. I knew she was not well, and this was coming, but it was still sad not to hear from her."
White died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 99, and the cause of her death was ruled natural causes. On Jan. 17, the Golden Girls star would have celebrated her 100th birthday.
ET recently spoke to Jeff Witjas, White’s longtime agent at APA Agency, who shared one of his final moments with the beloved star. "I was over there at the house a number of times and we enjoyed playing gin rummy together,” he told ET days after her death.
“Now I will say, her mind was sharp, her mind was always sharp, and she ticked me off really because she beat me four times…Somebody who is in declining health wouldn't be able to play gin rummy, honestly, and especially beat me four times. And as I was leaving, she promised me a rematch. That's the only thing we're not going to have," he shared. "But at least she knows, as I left, she beat me, because we had a very fun, competitive gin rummy game."
Witjas added of her final days, "She really is a homebody. So, towards the end of her life, she spent most of her life at home, almost all of it. She was very comfortable. It was her home."
Prior to her death, The Proposal star spoke with ET about her milestone 100th birthday. "[I'm] amazed," White said. "No, seriously, I’m the luckiest broad on two feet to be as healthy as I am and to feel as good as I do!"
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