Looking Back at Betty White and Husband Allen Ludden's Love Story

By Brenda Alexander

It's been nearly a year since the world lost their beloved Golden Girl. A fan-favorite of the classic NBC sitcom The Golden Girls, White died at the age of 99 on Dec. 31, 2021. She was just two weeks shy of turning 100. White made history as being the longest-running TV career at the time of her death, with her career spanning eight decades. Not just an actress, White was also a philanthropist, and activist – she also was a fierce competitor on game shows. She earned multiple Emmy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and lifetime achievement honors. But outside of the lights, camera, and action, White loved being a wife. After two failed marriages, she met and married the man of her dreams, Allen Ludden. The pair were joined at the hip, doing nearly everything together until his passing. She never remarried.

Before Ludden, she met her first husband, Dick Barker while volunteering with the American Women's Voluntary Services, a branch of the U.S. Army. He was a United States Army Air Forces aircraft pilot. They married and divorced within a year. She then married Hollywood talent agent, Lane Allen. That marriage also ended. But in 1963, she met who she described as the love of her life in host and personality, Ludden. For those familiar with White's story, they know that Ludden was her one true love.

As for what made him stand out amongst the rest, she told Larry King Live in 2010: "What got us together was his enthusiasm. He was interested in everything. There wasn't anything that he didn't want to know more about and hear about. That's fun to live with." And, she also said, "What you saw was what you got. He was one of the nicest, dearest people." Here's a look back at their fairytale love story.

How they met

White loved, and mastered, games, including crossword puzzles and trivia games. She met Ludden while appearing as a guest on Password.

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He proposed multiple times before she said yes

Within weeks of dating, Ludden proposed. White turned his proposal down twice. She'd been scarred from her previous marriages, but ultimately opted to spend the rest of her life with him in eternal bliss. "I just wasn't about to take another chance," she said of marriage in a 2012 CNN interview. "Then I thought, 'Am I going to live the rest of my life without this man?' Thank goodness we got married when we did."

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They were inseparable

The two spent nearly every second together, despite their busy careers. They even worked together at times. Lin Bolen told PEOPLE once, "When they can't be together at work, they call each other from their dressing rooms."

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She adored his children

White didn't have any biological children of her own. But when she married Ludden, she became a stepmother to his three children. Their own mother died years earlier before Ludden and White wed.

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Betty became his caregiver when he grew ill

Ludden was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer later in the 1970s. White's close friend Carol Burnett told PEOPLE that she didn't leave his side. "Once, when Allen was very sick [he was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer in the late '70s], Betty would come in and rehearse my show and then leave to go to the hospital. She just soldiered through, brilliant as always."

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She never remarried because of her love for him

White was 51 years old when Ludden lost his battle with cancer. When Anderson Cooper asked White why she never remarried in a 2011 interview, she responded honestly saying, "I had the love of my life. If you've had the best who needs the rest?"

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