Here’s Why Betty White Never Had Kids & What Her Relationship With Her Stepchildren Was Like
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Since her death, fans have wondered about Betty White’s kids and if she had children and grandchildren who survived her. Betty never had her own biological children. However, she did have three stepchildren—David, Martha and Sarah—with her late husband, Allen Ludden, who died on June 9, 1981.
Betty—whose full name was Betty Marion White—married Allen, a game shot host, on June 14, 1963. Their wedding came two years after his former wife Margaret McGloin (and the mother of his three kids) died of cancer on October 30, 1961. Allen proposed to Betty (whom he had met on his game show Password) twice before she accepted his proposal. They went on to star together in the play Critic’s Choice in 1972 and the romantic comedy movie Janus in 1963 before their wedding that same year.
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In an interview with People in 2009, Sandra Bullock, Betty’s co-star on The Proposal, revealed that The Golden Girls star told her that she never had her own biological kids because she already had three stepkids with Allen. “Betty said, ‘You know what? I never had children biologically. I married someone who had three children. And how blessed I was to have those three stepchildren,'” Bullock said. Betty also confirmed this in an interview with CBS in 2012 where she noted she had “no regrets” over the decision to not have biological children. “No, I’ve never regretted it,” she said at the time. “I’m so compulsive about stuff, I know if I had ever gotten pregnant, of course, that would have been my whole focus.” She continued, “But I didn’t choose to have children because I’m focused on my career. And I just don’t think as compulsive as I am that I could manage both.”
As for her relationship with her stepchildren, Betty told People in a past interview that she felt “blessed” to be a stepmother to Allen’s three kids. “It turned out great,” she said. While Betty White doesn’t have kids of her own, she does have three stepchildren with her late husband. Read on for what we know about Betty White’s stepkids now and what their relationship was with her growing up.
David Ludden
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Birthday: March 15, 1948
David Ludden was Allen Ludden and Margaret McGloin’s first and eldest child. He’s Betty White’s eldest stepchild with her late husband. David was born on March 15, 1948. He received his Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978 and became a history teacher at the university, where he taught South Asian History and development studies until 2007. While at the University of Pennsylvania, David was also the chair of the South Asian Studies department. David has also written several books about South Asia, including his 2013 book, India and South Asia: A Short History and his 1999 study, An Agrarian History of South Asia. He’s also received several several awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship for Humanities Award in 2002. He currently teaches Asian history at New York University.
Martha Ludden
Birth year: 1950
Martha Ludden was Allen Ludden and Margaret McGloin second child and their eldest daughter. She’s Betty White’s second stepchild with her late husband and her eldest stepdaughter. Martha was born in 1950. According to Pop Crunch, Martha was a teen when her dad remarried with Betty two years after her mom’s death. “Martha was young and she deeply opposed the marriage. She was very angry at her father and made it clear she did not like Betty,” the site reported. Pop Crunch also claimed that Martha had “anger towards Betty” when she and her dad first married. A source also told the site that Allen and Martha’s relationship was “strained from the start,” but his marriage to Betty made their dynamic even worse. “Allen used to argue with Martha constantly over her anger towards Betty,” the insider said. “Her tumultuous relationship with her father caused him a lot of grief.”
As for where Martha is now, Martha earned her law degree in 1990 and now works with people with disabilities. Betty’s relationship with Martha also seems to have improved, as a source told Closer Weekly in 2020 that Betty planned to invite her stepchildren, including Martha, to her 98th birthday party. “It will be at her home with her longtime friends and stepchildren,” the insider said. “She’s still close with them and their children. They’ll order food in and have fun.”
Sarah Ludden
Birth year: 1952
Sarah Ludden Allen Ludden and Margaret McGloin’s third and youngest child. She’s Betty White’s youngest stepchild with her late husband. Sarah was born in 1952 and was 9 years old when her mother died. According to Closer Weekly, Sarah and Betty had a good relationship, and Sarah would often intervene in arguments between her stepmother and Martha. Sarah worked as an audiologist and a dancer before her current career in karate. While she worked as a karate instructor, Sarah met Nancy Lanoue, a business owner from Chicago, and the two started dating. After several years together, Sarah moved from California to Chicago, where she and Nancy opened their own karate school named Thousand Waves. In 2009, Sarah received the Cook County Unsung Heroines Award and earned a fifth-degree black belt in the World Seido Karate Organization and in Kajukenbo Kung Fu. She also founded the Thousand Waves Scholarship Fund, which has provided more than $100,000 of tuition to karate students.
How did Betty White die?
Betty White died on December 31, 2021. She was 99 years old. Her death, which came three weeks before her 100th birthday, was confirmed by her agent and friend, Jeff Witjas. “Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever,” Witjas said in a statement to People at the time. “I will miss her terribly and so will the animal world that she loved so much. I don’t think Betty ever feared passing because she always wanted to be with her most beloved husband Allen Ludden. She believed she would be with him again.”
How did Betty White die? White died in her sleep at her home in the Brentwood neighborhood of west Los Angeles at around 9:30 a.m. PT on December 31, 2021, according to TMZ. “Betty died peacefully in her sleep at her home early this morning,” Witjas told People. In an interview with People before her death, White expressed her excitement at turning 100 years old. “I’m so lucky to be in such good health and feel so good at this age,” she said at the time. “It’s amazing.” White also joked about her secret to a long life. “I try to avoid anything green. I think it’s working,” she said.
Witjas confirmed in an interview with People at the time of White’s death that the comedian made him a “promise” to live to 100 years old, which she almost kept. “She was an incredible lady. Hard to put into words,” he said. “We had a special relationship, far more than just a client.” He continued, “We became really good friends and we always laughed no matter what we did. She was always positive and she always saw the bright side. She promised me she would live to 100 — and she almost did.”
Witjas also told People that he and White would often joke about her 101st birthday because they were so sure she’d live to be 100. “We kidded. I said, ‘Betty, we know you’re going to turn 100. Let’s start focusing on 101.’ I mean, that’s really how we kidded around,” he said. “She never made it a big deal.” Though White never made a “big deal” about her age, Witjas did recall White telling him, “Wow, that’s a pretty large number,” when she realized how close she was to turning 100 years old. He continued, “But we didn’t sit there and say, ‘Betty, how did you do it? What did you do?'” He also told People that White would often joke about her diet.
Witjas also explained why White chose not to replace her golden retriever Pontiac who died a few years ago. “I had asked her if she wanted another animal, and she said to me she would prefer not because if she got a puppy or she went to a shelter, she’d always figured that the dog would outlive her,” he said. “And I would kid her. I said, ‘Betty, you’re outliving everybody. You’re not going anywhere.’ But she was so sensitive to animals.” As for what her life represents, Witjas said, “Her work speaks for itself. Her legacy was sealed. It was sealed years ago.”
What was Betty White’s cause of death?
What was Betty White’s cause of death? White died of natural causes and didn’t have any specific illnesses or ailments, according to TMZ. After her death, there was a rumor that White died three days after she received the booster for the COVID-19 vaccine on December 28, 2021. The rumor came from an alleged quote from White about the COVID-19 vaccine, which users shared on Twitter and Facebook after her death. “Eat healthy and get all your vaccines. I just got boosted today,” read the quote, which users would share with a link to an article by the Minnesota news outlet, Crow River Media, with the headline, “Betty White: I’m lucky to still be in good health.”
The Associate Press confirmed that the quote—which was used to connect White’s death to the COVID-19 vaccine—was fake. Witjas also told the AP that the quote isn’t real. “Betty never said this,” he said. He also confirmed that White didn’t receive the booster for the COVID-19 vaccine three days before her death and died from natural causes. “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,” he said. “She died of natural causes. Her death should not be politicized — that is not the life she lived.” He continued, “She never said that regarding the booster. Betty died of natural causes. She did not have the booster three days before she died.”
Though White died of natural causes, Witjas confirmed to People that White was under a doctor’s care in the final months of her life due to the pandemic. “[She] was really simply spending each day at her home. She didn’t go out. She was under a doctor’s care, not for any reason, other than just being careful with COVID,” he said. I know there was a period where she would address all the fan letters. I think, she just didn’t have the energy to respond the way she used to. She was reading, she just lived her life. She was home in her comfortable surroundings.”
Witjas also told People that he didn’t know if White fully understood how loved she was by her fans. “I don’t know if she ever embraced it, [or] really, really felt it. The extent of it. I really don’t,” he said. “I would always reinforce it with her because I always felt she should know that. I never wanted her to think while she was sitting at home, that the world has passed her by. It never did.” He continued, “Betty lived a great life and she lived a life that she chose. She was happy,” Witjas adds. “Every time I told her, ‘Betty, you’re loved,’ she would look at me with a wry smile and say, ‘Really?’ I hope she knew. I think she did. It was something beyond love.”
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Here We Go Again: My Life In Television by Betty White
Buy: ‘Here We Go Again’ by Betty White $11.79
For more about Betty White, read her 2010 memoir, Here We Go Again: My Life in Television. The New York Times bestseller takes readers through White’s 50-plus years on television in shows Life With Elizabeth, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls. Packed with White’s trademark humor and never-before-heard stories about her Hollywood friends and her off-screen life, Here We Go Again follows White’s career from her start on radio and her first TV show, Hollywood on Television, to some of her final years of life as one of the hardest-working actresses in Hollywood ever. Here We go Again: My Life in Television is a must-read for anyone who wants to remember Betty White’s life and legacy.
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