In less than a month, Betty White will celebrate her centennial birthday. But rather than shy away from turning 100, the actress is embracing it.
"I'm so lucky to be in such good health and feel so good at this age," she told People this week ahead of her Jan. 17 birthday. "It's amazing."
White maintains her upbeat nature, which she attributes to being "born a cockeyed optimist."
"I got it from my mom, and that never changed," she said. "I always find the positive."
White is best known for her roles in "The Golden Girls" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" as well as parts in "Hot in Cleveland" and the 2009 film "The Proposal," and while she remains a Hollywood icon, these days White prefers to lead a quiet life in Los Angeles, playing crossword puzzles and card games and watching animal documentaries and "Jeopardy!"
One thing that has not changed is her devotion to animal rights. White is a supporter of the Wildlife Learning Center, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Actors and Others for Animals.
"I’ve loved animals since I was in the womb," White previously told Animal Wellness magazine, adding that her parents were both animal lovers as well. "It is so embedded in me. There isn’t an animal on the planet that I don’t find fascinating and want to learn more about."
White's love for animals is so strong that it prompted her to turn down scripts that might send the wrong messages about animals — or put them in danger. She turned down one such role in "As Good as It Gets," which starred Jack Nicholson.
"They had this puppy dog, this adorable puppy, that at one point they dropped down a laundry chute," White recalled during an interview with Smithsonian magazine. "It landed on a pile of laundry in the story line, and I turned down the role. There are a lot of people in apartments who would think that was a solution.
"It would either be funny to do that or it would be a solution to a barking neighbor or something like that. It certainly wouldn’t always have a happy ending. So I said as long as that scene was in the film, I wouldn’t do it."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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