Betty White is dying — and friends fear the last surviving “Golden Girl” has tragically lost the will to live after saying farewell to Hollywood with a startling appearance at the 2018 Emmy Awards! People close to the 96-year-old star of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” are on a death watch amid talk Betty has recently suffered a series of sudden collapses and is slowly wasting away. “She’s toothpick-thin and very feeble,” a friend of the beloved five-foot-four sitcom queen told a source for The National ENQUIRER. “She’s often short of breath.” Read on for details of Betty’s condition, and click here for more classic-TV-star news….
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“She’ll stare off into the distance and seems unfocused. She seems to get confused a lot and she can’t remember things," the source said. "Many fear it’s Alzheimer’s or dementia. She’s pretty much homebound and hates it. She appears ready to go at any moment!”
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Sadly, she knows it — despite her
peppy public persona, sources said. The friend notes the star has been “planning her funeral” and wants to go out in style. Her final curtain call will probably come sooner rather than later, insiders predict.
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Although a rep trashed talk that Betty is facing the end and said the actress is “alive and well, in perfect health and not dying,” a pal insisted the Sept. 18 Emmy ceremony in Los Angeles was the star’s “last hurrah, and I think everyone knew it.
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“She mustered all the strength she could for that appearance," said the pal. "Betty didn’t want to look sickly. She wanted to go out with a bang!” The iconic actress was “all gussied up” in a black dress and “tons of makeup,” while joking with the star-studded crowd.
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"It’s incredible that I’m still in this business and you are still putting up with me," said Betty (shown here in 2015 People's Choice Awards) to the appreciative crowd. "It’s incredible that you can stay in a career this long and still have people put up with you. I wish they did that at home.”
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But Florida longevity expert Dr. Gabe Mirkin, who has not treated White, told The ENQUIRER: “Betty looks debilitated” and is at risk for heart failure. "The vast majority of people who die of natural causes in old age really died of heart failure,” Dr. Mirkin said.
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"Your heart will become weaker because you don’t exercise and that accelerates the rate at which your heart weakens," Dr. Mirkin noted. “Eventually the heart can become too weak to pump blood through the body.”
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Friends and co-stars say Betty has neglected her health for years. In 2011, her "
Hot in Cleveland" co-star
Jane Leeves tattled: “She eats Red Vines candy, hot dogs, French fries and Diet Coke.” Betty herself once told a source she sticks to a strict diet of “vodka and hot dogs, probably in that order.”
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Last year, animal-loving Betty was reportedly battling a crippling illness that forced her to make a desperate, hush-hush dash to her doctor’s office after collapsing at home! Betty appeared gaunt, pasty-faced and shaky as she clung tightly to an assistant’s arm.
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New York internist Dr. Stuart Fischer, who also has not treated White, told The ENQUIRER he suspects “arteriosclerosis” caused the collapse. “People of advanced age are forced to endure inflammatory chemicals that overwhelm the body, causing rapidly narrowing arteries that force a rapid blood pressure drop and explain the collapse,” said Fischer.
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“Dizzy spells in aging people are common when they rise up against gravity.," Dr. Mirkin added. “The heart is too weak to compensate for gravity pulling blood down from the brain.” Now friends fear she could drop dead of a heart attack or suffer a debilitating stroke any minute.
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“She’ll stare off into the distance and seems unfocused. She seems to get confused a lot and she can’t remember things," the source said. "Many fear it’s Alzheimer’s or dementia. She’s pretty much homebound and hates it. She appears ready to go at any moment!”
Sadly, she knows it — despite her
peppy public persona, sources said. The friend notes the star has been “planning her funeral” and wants to go out in style. Her final curtain call will probably come sooner rather than later, insiders predict.
Although a rep trashed talk that Betty is facing the end and said the actress is “alive and well, in perfect health and not dying,” a pal insisted the Sept. 18 Emmy ceremony in Los Angeles was the star’s “last hurrah, and I think everyone knew it.
Photo credit: Getty Images
“She mustered all the strength she could for that appearance," said the pal. "Betty didn’t want to look sickly. She wanted to go out with a bang!” The iconic actress was “all gussied up” in a black dress and “tons of makeup,” while joking with the star-studded crowd.
"It’s incredible that I’m still in this business and you are still putting up with me," said Betty (shown here in 2015 People's Choice Awards) to the appreciative crowd. "It’s incredible that you can stay in a career this long and still have people put up with you. I wish they did that at home.”
But Florida longevity expert Dr. Gabe Mirkin, who has not treated White, told The ENQUIRER: “Betty looks debilitated” and is at risk for heart failure. "The vast majority of people who die of natural causes in old age really died of heart failure,” Dr. Mirkin said.
"Your heart will become weaker because you don’t exercise and that accelerates the rate at which your heart weakens," Dr. Mirkin noted. “Eventually the heart can become too weak to pump blood through the body.”
Photo credit: Getty Images
Friends and co-stars say Betty has neglected her health for years. In 2011, her "
Hot in Cleveland" co-star
Jane Leeves tattled: “She eats Red Vines candy, hot dogs, French fries and Diet Coke.” Betty herself once told a source she sticks to a strict diet of “vodka and hot dogs, probably in that order.”
Photo credit: Getty Images
Last year, animal-loving Betty was reportedly battling a crippling illness that forced her to make a desperate, hush-hush dash to her doctor’s office after collapsing at home! Betty appeared gaunt, pasty-faced and shaky as she clung tightly to an assistant’s arm.
New York internist Dr. Stuart Fischer, who also has not treated White, told The ENQUIRER he suspects “arteriosclerosis” caused the collapse. “People of advanced age are forced to endure inflammatory chemicals that overwhelm the body, causing rapidly narrowing arteries that force a rapid blood pressure drop and explain the collapse,” said Fischer.
“Dizzy spells in aging people are common when they rise up against gravity.," Dr. Mirkin added. “The heart is too weak to compensate for gravity pulling blood down from the brain.” Now friends fear she could drop dead of a heart attack or suffer a debilitating stroke any minute.
Photo credit: Getty Images
