Beloved Hollywood icon Betty White suffered a stroke nearly a week prior to her death last month, according to a copy of her death certificate obtained by TMZ.
White’s cause of death is officially listed as a cerebrovascular accident, which is brain tissue damage caused by a loss of blood flow to part of the brain and is also capable of causing blood clots or broken blood vessels.
The death certificate confirmed the legendary actress suffered a stroke six days prior to her death on December 31.
TMZ reiterated that it’s unknown how the stoke affected White and whether she was still conscious and alert in the days leading up to her passing.
Earlier this month, White’s agent, Jeff Witjas, told the Associated Press that his client died from “natural causes,” denying false reports that White had died after receiving a booster shot on December 28, just three days prior to her death.
“Betty died peacefully in her sleep at her home. People are saying her death was related to getting a booster shot three days earlier but that is not true,” Witjas said in a statement to the Associated Press. “She died of natural causes. Her death should not be politicised — that is not the life she lived.”
White was featured in a PEOPLE Magazine cover story in December ahead of what would have been her 100th birthday on January 17.
“I’m so lucky to be in such good health and feel so good at this age,” White said during the recent interview. “It’s amazing.”
Betty White: 100 Years Young – A Birthday Celebration will air as originally planned, the event’s producers, Steven Boettcher and Mike Trinklein confirmed to the New York Post.
“Our hearts mourn today with the passing of Betty White. During the many years we worked with her, we developed a great love and admiration for Betty as a person, and as an accomplished entertainer,” the producers said. “We are thankful for the many decades of delight she brought to everyone. Betty always said she was the ‘luckiest broad on two feet’ to have had a career as long as she did. And honestly, we were the lucky ones to have had her for so long.
The upcoming birthday special is scheduled to include appearances by Ryan Reynolds, Tina Fey, Robert Redford, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Jay Leno, Carol Burnett, Craig Feguson, Jimmy Kimmel, Valerie Bertinelli, James Corden, Wendie Malick and Jennifer Love Hewitt.
White’s legendary entertainment career spanned 80 years, which included notable television roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Golden Girls, and, more recently, Hot in Cleveland, among numerous others.
The multiple-time Emmy Award winner’s last credited acting role came in the 2019 television short series, Forky Asks A Question, where she revived her character Bitey White from the film Toy Story 4.
