You’ll always be such a catastrophe

Betty White on Her Legacy, Memories and Her Recipe for Living a Long, Happy Life 

Seated in a suite at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Bel Air, White beams with her signature dimpled smile and radiates the indestructible, relentless wit that made her a TV sweetheart for decades. A self-proclaimed optimist, she says her thousand-watt outlook on life is “pretty much the same” as it has always been. “I know it sounds corny, but I try to see the funny side and the upside, not the downside. I get bored with people who complain about this or that. It’s such a waste of time.”

The six-time Emmy winner has been working in show business consistently for more than 75 years, and hers is the longest television career of any female entertainer in history.

Does she have any tricks or tips for living happily and healthfully for more than nine decades? Indeed: “Enjoy life,” she says. “Accentuate the positive, not the negative. It sounds so trite, but a lot of people will pick out something to complain about, rather than say, ‘Hey, that was great!’ It’s not hard to find great stuff if you look.”

Betty White at home with her dogs Danny and Stormy, 1954-57.