June 14 might be a regular date on the calendar for many; this year, it happens to be a Wednesday, and if you’re anything like us, you’re probably wishing time away until Friday afternoon. For fans of Betty White, however, June 14 is special — it’s the date she married the love of her life, Allen Ludden, back in 1963.
The pair had a connection that seemed written in the stars, untouchable by anything life threw in its path, illness, distance, an early passing for Ludden — their love transcended it all. In fact, if you’ve kept up with White’s life, you’ll know she never remarried after the passing of her husband; she didn’t feel the need to. The relationship they built and the way they looked at one another with stars in their eyes, there was enough love to carry her through her remaining days in this world without him — until the moment they locked gazes once again.
That moment happened on Dec. 31, 2021 — when we were shocked and heartbroken to learn of White’s untimely passing. Yes, she lived to be 99 — almost 100. If you count leap years, she was 100, but we digress. Her passing still seemed untimely after 99 years on this Earth, and that says a lot about her character. That same character that Ludden fell fast in love with from the early moments of their meeting.
White spoke with Katie Couric in 2011 about everything from her career to her romance with Ludden, where she told Couric the reason she never married again.
“When you’ve had the best, who needs the rest? It was special. It was very special.”
White had no regrets in her life; looking back, she would have changed a single thing, except one year of wasted time, which — if you were to ask Ludden, he would have likely said wasn’t wasted at all. Ludden asked White to marry him, and while she wanted to, she was a practical lady — there was a lot to think about first.
Ludden gave her a ring and earrings, sent messages, and wore the ring on a chain around his own neck so she saw it when they were together — he certainly had his plans on display. White would go on to say yes on Easter of 1963, and her yes came with the help of the one thing she couldn’t refuse — a stuffed animal.
“So when he called that night. I said, ‘OK, yes.’ And afterwards he said I’m the only woman in the world who said yes to marrying him not for the earrings, but for the stuffed bunny.”
White had a room in her home dedicated to stuffed animals; when there were snaps of her signing things for fans or doing home interviews, there were always plush buddies in the audience’s line of vision. None, however, was more important than the bunny from Ludden. Honestly, as someone who also collects stuffed animals, I credit my dream to be like White with my obsession; the queen would approve.
After his passing, White admits she would still go out from time to time and have fun, waiting for the day Robert Redford would call, but there was never a void she attempted to fill because she felt Ludden with her all the time. White also gave an emotional response to Couric about fearing death, saying it wasn’t something she was afraid of at all.
“My mother had the most wonderful outlook on death. She would always say, ‘Nobody knows. People think they do — you can believe whatever you want to believe, what happens at that last moment — but nobody ever knows until it happens.’ Growing up, whenever we’d lose somebody, she’d always say, ‘Now they know the secret.'”
White also felt that she’d be reunited with Ludden after her passing, and we have a feeling they’ve made up for a lot of lost time since she got where she was going. In the years between, White did say that there were pieces of the life she missed most with Ludden, and she recognized it in times when she was with other couples who shared a deep love for one another. Speaking to Oprah in a “Where Are They Now” special, she shared the following, and it will bring a tear to your eyes:
“You go out with a couple, let’s say, and all of the sudden, you see one or the other reach over and, or just, you know [pat on the shoulder], something like that. Those are the things I miss. It’s just that level of personal affection; it has nothing to do with sex. I’m talking about just the personal contact; that’s an empty feeling.”
It’s easy to imagine that we’ll all meet a great love someday, and maybe you already have; but there’s something otherworldly about the bond that White and Ludden shared, while their time together was far too short, with Ludden passing from stomach cancer in 1981, the decades on this Earth that she spent without him were still full of love and joy because of how deeply they cared for one another when he was here.
A love that lasts that transcends time and death, a romance that keeps you going; White is our dream Golden Girl, America’s Sweetheart, and her romance with Ludden? That’s what we’re holding out for; that’s the stuff you give it all for — it’s what dreams are made of. Happy Heavenly anniversary to White and Ludden. May it be as sweet as cheesecake.