NEWSHow Betty White Stays Hip and Healthy at 89
Jan. 19 2011, Published 12:10 p.m. ET
Justin Bieber serenades Betty White with his rendition of Happy Birthday during her 89th birthday celebration held Tuesday at NYC’s Le Cirque.
Although the 16-year-old pop sensation and other pop icons like Taylor Swift and Ryan Seacrest can’t make it in person, they record a touching video montage watched by a packed house that includes her Hot In Cleveland co-stars Valerie Bertinelli (with new hubby Tom Vitale), Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick as well as Sherri Shepherd.
The Golden Girl blows out the candles, wishing “that we can just keep on doing what we’re doing. It’s lovely.”
After Valerie makes a champagne toast “to Betty White” and the birthday girl is presented with a charitable donation to an animal foundation, the ladies settle into the head table as guests hit the buffet and partake in appetizers like burgers, shrimp scampi and mini Caesar salads.
30 Rock’s Judah Friendlander drops by to share his well wishes as Valerie fans herself and downs a hot dog. And now for the topper: Guests are served thin slices of white cake with decadent chocolate filling. Delish!
How does Betty stay hip and healthy at the age of 89?
“Oh, I bet I’m hot,” Betty says. “Oh I’m old, sure.”
Kidding aside, her co-stars confess her diet is shockingly heavy on junk food.
“She eats red licorice ridiculously a lot,” Wendie tells me. “And she seems to subsist on hot dogs and French fries.”
Jane adds, “She eats crap. She eats Red Vines, hot dogs, French fries and Diet Coke. I’m like Diet Coke … really?! If that’s the key … I mean, maybe she’s preserved because of all the preservatives.”
To celebrate her milestone, the Hot In Cleveland ladies give Betty a tray hand-painted with a picture of her golden retriever Pontiac – and they adopt an orphaned elephant who lives in Africa in her name.
“She was extremely happy,” Jane says.
For Betty, 89 birthdays means 89 years of birthday gifts. She considers her wildest present to be a Pekingese puppy.
“I named him Bandit because he stole my heart,” she says.
One characteristic that keeps Betty in tune with her younger counterparts is her innocently racy way with words.
“She can get away with saying anything because she has that adorable face and smile,” Jane says. “She’s got a salty mouth, that woman, and she’s always with the quick wit, and probably not things I could say out loud. Bless her.”
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In fact, Sherri’s gift will be just up her alley.
“I got a bunch of dirty jokes I’m going to tell her for her birthday. I’m going to tell her some good ones. It’s hard with Betty because she knows all the good dirty jokes, so you’ve gotta get creative.”
Also keeping her young is her desire to be a part of the world.
“She’s curious,” Wendie says. “She’s very interested to know what other people think. It’s extraordinary.”
What’s one of her catch phrases?
“She told me one that I never heard, which is ‘I don’t swing through that gate,’ which means she’s not gay I guess,” Jane says.
When it comes to Betty’s ability to keep her career moving forward since the 1940s (next up: starring in The Lost Valentine with Jennifer Love Hewitt), pals point to her attitude of gratitude.
What would she tell the twenty-something starlets of today?
“Be a professional and appreciate the business you’re in. Everybody all over the world would love to be in your business, so don’t abuse it. “
Her family contributed to her thankful disposition.
“I had some good advice from my mother and father, who were the best in the world. I was an only child, and they said if I ever abused the privilege, they’d throw me out.”
What do her pals hope they’ll be like at 89?
Jane says, “I just hope I’m that cool when I’m 89, and that sharp as well. I want to be her … now, really. Not just when I’m 89.”
Sherri says, “I hope I’m like Betty White, being loved by everybody, making everybody laugh and still having a lot of sex, because she said she celebrated her birthday last night, so I was like ‘you go.’ She does not kiss and tell. I tried to get it out of her; Betty White’s good.’”
But no one will replace her dear third husband, to whom she was married from 1963 until his death in 1981.
“The love of my life was Alan Ludden and still is,” she says wistfully. “We had a love like nobody else.”
As the party winds down, Betty says, “I’m surrounded by wonderful people, and thank all of you for showing up. I deeply appreciate it.”
What a hostess … guests receive the parting gift of Hot In Cleveland season one on DVD.
Wait, isn’t it Betty’s birthday?!
Catch Betty and friends in Hot In Cleveland, which begins its second season tonight at 10/9C.
