Betty White's stepchildren?

.....

Unless her stepkids need money, I expect her will provides for animals.

Why Susan Dey, what is that in reference?

R3 Welcome to DL.

It is her intention to make no provisions to her stepchildren - for reasons which are well known to them.

I wonder if she and the first wife are competing over Allen in heaven.

R3, when her TV mother, Shirley Jones, died Dey released a statement saying, “For reasons best known by her, I will not be saying anything more.”

And, just like that, DL lost it.

All three of her stepkids appear to have had very successful careers. One is a professor, another a lawyer. Allen Ludden for you young folk who aren't familiar with him, was brilliant. He was the host of College Bowl and then Password. He was the Alex Trebek of his time.

When I was a kid, Alan Ludden and Betty White were always spoken of in the same breath. I remember Betty had an animal adoption show. I didn’t get into the later Golden girls stuff.

… But it’s a good question.

If she died in her sleep that's a great way to go. I wish I could get that.

Money changes everything with some people. But I'm confident Betty made appropriate financial decisions for when her time came. Can't wait for the reading of the will, may have a few surprises. Betty had a quick wicked sense of humor to the very end.

R7 Shirley Jones is alive (she sends her love)

Yes, R12. Her schtick was "cute ditzy broad" but she seemed to be 100% opposite of that in real life. Astute, as self-educated people often are.

Now she knows the secret.

With all due respect, it would be hilarious if Betty turned out to be a malicious cunt, the complete opposite of her image.

[quote] Now she knows the secret.

What does this refer to? Ryan Reynolds said this to her too.

The secret is what happens when we die

She wrote 2 autobiographies: "Here We Go Again" (2010) and "If You Ask Me" (2011). I found both at my local library and enjoyed them.

....

R7 Thank you!

This is interesting about Betty's youngest step-daughter...

"Sarah started her career as an audiologist and dancer, but her love of dance led her to pursue a career in karate. During that time, she met Nancy Lanoue, a business owner who lived in Chicago. After dating for quite some time, Sarah moved from California to Chicago and together, they opened a small karate school called Thousand Waves."

Betty had a Gay step-daughter

[quote] She wrote 2 autobiographies: "Here We Go Again" (2010) and "If You Ask Me" (2011).

Why would she write two autobiographies a year apart?

Will she be buried with Allen Ludden in Mineral Point Wisconsin is another question too.

Allen Ludden was kinda cute with his glasses. I was just reading up on him, his father died in 1919 at age 26 from the Spanish flu.

Not much on Wikipedia about Betty’s TWO husbands prior to Ludden.

^ Just this...

"The showbiz icon was married three times in her life. She walked down the aisle with U.S. Army pilot Dick Barker in 1945, but they split later that year. Following her divorce, Betty tied the knot with actor Lane Allen in 1947. However, their marriage lasted two years as the Hollywood agent died in 1995."

I read that she moved to an Ohio farm with her first husband and couldn't stand it, left and came back to California

[quote]I wonder if she and the first wife are competing over Allen in heaven.

They are, but I'm winning.

[quote] I read that she moved to an Ohio farm with her first husband and couldn't stand it, left and came back to California

Sounds like "The Egg and I", which marriage also ended in divorce (in real life, the book and movie ended before that part).

[quote] Following her divorce, Betty tied the knot with actor Lane Allen in 1947. However, their marriage lasted two years as the Hollywood agent died in 1995."

How does this even make sense?

R30 Maybe Betty was writing her own Wikipedia page. Has the whiff of dismissal/sanitization.

According to Wikipedia, Allen was an actor who became an agent and died in 1995. He and White were married for 2 years and divorced in 1949, "based on disagreements" per Wikipedia.

[quote]Why Susan Dey, what is that in reference?

Because the role of Laurie Patridge is iconic. Here she is with Luke Skywalker.

R30 - there should be a semi-colon instead of the word "as" to indicate the two facts are not related.

A semi-colon does not make it correct.

Her step-children had a lot to say about her when she was alive. All of it bad.

[quote]Her step-children had a lot to say about her when she was alive. All of it bad.

The password is "cunt."

[quote] Unless her stepkids need money, I expect her will provides for animals.

Even if they needed money, you think her will would be different?

[quote] R7 Thank you!

Seriously? Did you not see R13?

I knew a girl who claimed to be Betty's granddaughter. I never knew if she was telling the truth.

Step-son Dave Ludden is a nice, decent guy. He's a history professor.

Betty on her two prior marriages...

"I've had two bad marriages, and I don't like to think of them as good mistakes. They were traumatizing to go through. You really feel like a failure when your marriage doesn't work. But they did make me appreciate it when the perfect one came along.

Back in those days—I'm pushing 90—you didn't sleep with a fella unless you married him. It was during World War II and I met this P-38 pilot, which was terribly romantic, and we were going to live just up the coast from Los Angeles. He didn't tell me he got mustered out, so instead of going up to our apartment in Santa Maria, we had to drive to Belle Center, Ohio, a town of 800 people. Belle Center was a chicken farm. We were living with his mom and dad, and they would send me out to kill a chicken to bring it in for dinner. I said, "No way!" That was a real trauma because I'm such an animal nut. I couldn't hack it, so I split and came back to California. We were married eight months, and it was a very bad mistake early on.

Then I met a wonderful man, Lane Allen. He was a theatrical agent, and we had a couple of very good years. But he wanted me to stop working. He didn't want me to be in show business. When you have a calling you have to follow it, so I made the choice, blew the marriage, and I've never regretted it."

Betty was very good at talking about herself. I mean that sincerely.

Betty and Allen were close friends with John Steinbeck and his wife Elaine. Elaine and Allen had been friends since they went to the University of Texas Austin together. Elaine was married to Zachary Scott and divorced him to marry Steinbeck.

[quote]"I've had two bad marriages, and I don't like to think of them as good mistakes. They were traumatizing to go through.

Yeah the both asked her politely on the honeymoon, if she'd have intercourse with them.

[quote] when her TV mother, Shirley Jones, died Dey released a statement saying, “For reasons best known by her, I will not be saying anything more.” And, just like that, DL lost it.

Wasn't it when David Cassidy died in 2017? Susan Dey had the hots for her costar David Cassidy during the filming of The Partridge Family, but he viewed her more as a friend and wouldn't date her. Shirley Jones who is still alive, David's mother had warned him to not get involved with Dey.

David Cassidy slipped into drugs and depression during the run of the series, after a girl was killed at one of his concerts. Dey slipped into anorexia at that time, which is preserved forever on celluloid.

R12 “the reading of the will” is something that occurs primarily in soap operas and pulp fiction. In New York State, legal children get emailed a copy of the will, regardless of whether they are named in it or not.

I wonder what Kirsten will get.

Susan Niven's cookbook

Susan Dey didn't release any kind of statement at all about David Cassidy, let alone that made-up "for reasons well known" thing someone earlier in the thread tried to pass off as real.

What happened is that someone on the Cassidy death thread kept asking why she hadn't issued a statement, and people turned it into a whole thing. She was at his funeral, for what it's worth.

I wonder how much they will inherit.

What exactly did Betty's step-children say about her????

^ They said that being a the town slut or the town dumb ass really wasn’t that much of an acting stretch for her. Basically, she just had to wake up each morning.

Here's some info.

(btw - The youngest stepdaughter, Sarah, is lesbian.)

Did any of her stepchildren release a statement regarding her passing? Or are they the Susan Dey of stepchildren?

R46 R51 Susan Dey did attend David Cassidy's funeral

Did Shirley Jones and Betty White ever work together?

If anyone really doesn't know, the "for reasons which are well known to them" line is a reference to Joan Crawford, who stated that in her will regarding her adopted children. "It is my intention to make no provision herein for my son Christopher or my daughter Christina for reasons which are well known to them.” (Considering r5's comment has 21 likes, there are likely quote a few who got it just fine, but just in case...)

"quite" a few...

That particular line in a will didn't originate with Joan Crawford, however. It was (and still is) standard boilerplate for wills. It's just that when it's used here, it's referring to Joan specifically.

Those lucky animals. I bet they're getting the lionshare.

Wouldn't Allen Ludden's children be elderly themselves now? Why do they need Betty's money? They've had plenty of time to figure shit out.

R62 lion's share

Damn,her 1st 2 husbands were cuties. Sorry,but Allen wasnt.

Her stepson. A tenured professor at NYU, an expert on India.

Allan's first wife died of cancer in 1961 and he and Betty married in 1963, so it's not quite like Carol Burnett and Joe Hamilton.

[quote]Ludden married Margaret McGloin on October 11, 1943. She died of cancer on October 30, 1961. They had a son, David, and two daughters, Martha and Sarah.

[quote]He proposed to Betty White, whom he had met on Password, at least twice before she accepted. Their romance blossomed when they played summer stock theatre together, in the play Critic's Choice in 1962. They also appeared together in the romantic comedy Janus in 1963. They were married on June 14, 1963, and remained together until Ludden's death.

oops, Allen.^

R57 - it's a shame Jack Cassidy, Patrick's son didn't inherit his dad's looks

Thanks for clarifying R59. Jackie Kennedy was actually the one who came to mind when I read that quote. But come to think of it, Jackie's will said " I have already provided for her (Lee) in my lifetime". Still, the snark and the sentiment of both statements are the same.

[quote] That particular line in a will didn't originate with Joan Crawford, however. It was (and still is) standard boilerplate for wills.

No, "for reasons which are well known to them" is not a normal line to have in a will, yet alone boiler plate, and never has been.

"For reasons that are well known to him" is the same phrase Leona Helmsley used when she left all her money to her dogs and cut relatives out of the will. I doubt she did it because Joan Crawford had earlier.

Betty was a lesbian and used Ludden to cover it up..

[quote]Betty was a lesbian and used Ludden to cover it up..

Now that Betty has passed, her former female lovers are free to speak up.

Yes R74, from the dead.

Ouija board.

All the Betty White fuss is a mystery to me.

I never really liked her. In fact, I always got a nasty vibe from her.

One of the articles linked above about Allan Ludden's children is rather insulting to them. These 3 people have made full lives for themselves, but the article insists on referring to them repeatedly as White's stepchildren. As if that is the most important thing about them.

Carry on, DL.

Susan Dey and Betty are both cunts!