Robert Redford Offers Touching Words for 'Crush' Betty White After Her Death at 99

Golden Girls star and comedy icon Betty White passed away at the age of 99 on Friday, and fans and friends in Hollywood poured out all of their love for her online. One of those celebrities was actor Robert Redford, White's longtime crush. "Betty lived life devoted to her craft and her love of animals. She made us all laugh, including me," Redford said in a statement made to E!. "I had a crush on her too!"

White referenced her crush on Redford in her final interview, joking that Ryan Reynolds never got over her. "I've heard Ryan can't get over his thing for me," she told PEOPLE. "But Robert Redford is The One." Reynolds kept the joke going in response. "I'm absolutely sick of the media exploiting past relationships just to drive click," he tweeted.

White's crush was first referenced in The Mary Tyler Moore Show episode "Chuckles Bites The Dust," when her character Sue Ann Nivens declares "I want to be cremated and have my ashes thrown on Robert Redford." She also joked in her 2019 birthday statement, "In the evening, Betty is playing poker with friends that she has played with for decades. As for her birthday wish, Betty is waiting for Robert Redford to call!"

The View host Joy Behar tweeted out a funny story about White as a tribute. "When Betty was 88, I asked her if there is anything she'd still like to do and she said, 'yes, Robert Redford.' A funny and sweet lady. She will be missed," Behar shared. 

"I don't know him. I just worship from afar," White said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. "If I ever met him, I'd faint." Following that quip, Redford replied, "I can't imagine being loved by anybody better." However, the true love of White's life was her husband, game show host and television personality Allen Ludden. They met and fell in love in 1963, and were married until his death in 1981. White never remarried.

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