If You Ask Me - Betty White [1]
Somewhere along the line there is a breaking point, where you go from not discussing how old you are to bragging about it. I have never lied about my age, but these days I seem to work it into the conversation at the drop of a hat. Please stop me before I get to the point of, “Hi, I’m Betty White—I’m eighty-nine years old!” There’s nothing to brag about—I didn’t accomplish that age, it sneaked up on me.
There is even a funny side to aging, if one has a warped sense of humor.
If one has no sense of humor, one is in trouble.
I joined the American Women’s Voluntary Services when World War II broke out.
BETTY WHITE PRIVATE COLLECTION
ON REFLECTION
In show business, the mirror obviously plays a big part in one’s life, but early on—long before I started working—my beloved mother taught me another role the mirror plays. I can still hear her:
“Bets, you can lie to anyone in the world and even get away with it, perhaps, but when you are alone and look into your own eyes in the mirror, you can’t sidestep the truth. Always be sure you can meet those eyes directly. Otherwise, it’s big trouble, my girl.”
It may sound like a cliché, I realize, but oh, it’s so true. On rare occasions I have tried to prove my mom wrong. I stare back at my reflection and try to rationalize my way out of something, but it never works. Those eyes in the looking glass take on a life of their own.
It still works, Mom. Even after all these years.
My beloved mom—Tess White.
BETTY WHITE PRIVATE COLLECTION
Animal lover that I am, I am often handed animals by pet owners at events and appearances, like this cute little devil.
© SARA DE BOER/RETNA LTD./CORBIS
HEALTH
As the years add up, I am so grateful for the good health I have been blessed with, and I don’t ever take it for granted for a second. I make it a point to never let my weight vary more than five pounds in either direction; I wear glasses to read or to drive; I have a two-story house and a bad memory, so all those trips up and down the stairs take care of my exercise.
I had my eyes done in 1976 and have let nature take its course ever since. As for my hair, I have no idea what color it really is, and I never intend to find out. My mother’s hair never went gray, it just went mousy. So when mine started going that way, I just started tinting it and haven’t stopped. And I never will!
In terms of my weight, I weigh myself every morning. And if I go up one pound, I take it off the next day. It’s easy to take a pound off, you just skip something. But if it goes to three pounds, it becomes more difficult and one of them usually just stays there. Or five pounds—even worse—sometimes those just stay. I watched it happen with my mother. So I figure it’s easy to just take them off immediately, and it’s not too much of a sacrifice.
I don’t have a sweet tooth, but I do have a cocktail before dinner. I also love french fries and hot dogs. The famous Pink’s hot dog company in California actually named a hot dog after me, and since I eat mine plain with no condiments, it’s the Betty White “Naked” Dog. So if my weight goes up a pound or so, it’s easy to find something to cut out to bring it back down.
My obsessive addiction to crossword puzzles I chalk off as mental gymnastics. I love games and puzzles. On the set of The Lost Valentine, a Hallmark movie, Jennifer Love Hewitt and her boyfriend, Alex Beh, and I played Scrabble during every lunch break. And I always have a book of crosswords or acrostics in my purse wherever I go. Whenever I’ve had a puppy, I’ve put newspaper down for him, but if I put down a piece of the paper and there’s a crossword in there, I’ll snatch it right up and say, “No, you can’t go on that!”
I subscribe to the Crosswords Club and the Puzzle Club and get a new set of puzzles every month. They were given to me as a gift, and I renew them all the time. I have stacks piling up. I won’t live long enough to do all these