Betty White’s death certificate reveals she suffered a stroke 6 days before her death

Betty White’s cause of death has been confirmed.

On Monday, NBC News obtained a copy of White’s death certificate which lists a cerebrovascular accident as her immediate cause of death.

A cerebrovascular accident, which is a medical term for a stroke, occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. When the blood supply is stopped, the brain cells begin to die and the brain loses function.

According to the death certificate, “The Golden Girls” star suffered a stroke six days before her death on Dec. 31 at age 99.

“I was told that Betty passed in her sleep peacefully without pain,” White’s agent and close friend Jeff Witjas said in a statement given to NBC News. “To me, this is the most important thing and brings me comfort as her friend. Anything else is private to Betty.”

Following news of the actor’s death, Witjas released a statement to NBC News that said, “Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever.”

He added, “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.”

White met her third husband, Ludden, on the game show “Password” in 1961. The couple married in 1963 and remained together until he died from stomach cancer at age 63.

Hollywood stars and fans around the world deeply mourned White’s death on New Year’s Eve.

Her friend and “The Proposal” co-star Ryan Reynolds tweeted, “The world looks different now” after hearing the news.

He praised the pioneering actor for being “great at defying expectation.”

“She managed to grow very old and somehow, not old enough. We’ll miss you, Betty. Now you know the secret,” he wrote.