Betty has passed away...

Betty White was beloved by all, including her "crush" Robert Redford.

Following the actress' death at the age of 99, Robert said in a statement to E! News, "Betty lived life devoted to her craft and her love of animals. She made us all laugh, including me."

He then added: "I had a crush on her too!"

The Golden Girls star recently expressed admiration for the Hollywood star in a Dec. 28 interview with People, saying, "I've heard Ryan [Reynolds] can't get over his thing for me but Robert Redford is The One."

Robert didn't reply at the time, but Betty's The Proposal co-star did, joking on Twitter, "I'm absolutely sick of the media exploiting past relationships just to drive clicks."

Of course, Betty and Robert have a history—kind of. Back when Betty played Sue Ann on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, she made a reference to the star of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in the episode "Chuckles Bites the Dust," as reported by Thrillist.

Like most women of the era, Sue Ann had the hots for the actor and joked in this episode, "I want to be cremated and have my ashes thrown on Robert Redford."

And Betty's jokes weren't confined to her time as Sue Ann. When she celebrated her 97th birthday in 2019, her agent said in a statement, "In the evening, Betty is playing poker with friends that she has played with for decades. As for her birthday wish, Betty is waiting for Robert Redford to call!"

Not to mention, the time she was asked if there was anything she still wanted "to do" and she replied, "Uhh, Robert Redford."

"I don't know him. I just worship from afar," she said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. But Betty wasn't looking to actually meet the star, because, as she put it, "If I ever met him, I'd faint."

Robert eventually heard of Betty's admiration and he had the perfect response: "I can't imagine being loved by anybody better."

Of course, Betty loved no one more than her late husband, Allen Ludden, who died from stomach cancer in 1981. In her agent, Jess Witjas', statement confirming her death, he said in part, "I don't think Betty ever feared passing because she always wanted to be with her most beloved husband Allen Ludden. She believed she would be with him again."

Betty White, the beloved and iconic star of The Golden Girls, passed away on Friday, December 31, 2021, just a few weeks shy of her 100th birthday. The film and television actress was named a Disney Legend—the prestigious honor bestowed upon individuals in recognition of their extraordinary contributions to The Walt Disney Company—in 2009.

“Rest in peace Betty White, our Golden Girl, our friend, and our neighbor,” said Bob Iger, Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board, The Walt Disney Company. “Your wit, your charm, your warmth and your smile will always be with us.”

While being inducted as a Disney Legend in 2009, White exhibited her sharp wit when she joked, “I want to put to rest the rumor that somebody started that I used to babysit for Walt when he was a little boy. I didn’t!” She did, however, recall being “so excited” when the first Mickey Mouse doll was released. “I needed that Mickey Mouse doll,” White said. “My parents, bless their hearts, bought him for me—and he still stands on my desk at home.”

From the moment White appeared on television in 1950, audiences and critics fell in love with her. From her hilarious portrayal of the snide “Happy Homemaker” Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and her charming performance as Rose Nylund, the charmingly daft spirit she played on the Touchstone Television series The Golden Girls, to her scene-stealing role as Grandma Annie in Touchstone Pictures’ The Proposal, White quickly cemented her place as one of the most popular and beloved American actresses of all time.

The six-time Emmy Award®-winning actress was born Betty Marion White on January 17, 1922, in Oak Park, Illinois, and raised in Southern California. After hosting a local television show, White formed her own production company in the early 1950s with producer Don Fedderson and writer George Tibbles. A pioneer of television, White was one of the first women to have control both in front of and behind the camera, and is recognized as the first woman to produce a sitcom. White’s partnership with Fedderson and Tibbles led to her debut comedy series, Life with Elizabeth, for which she won her first Emmy in 1952. White then became a mainstay on variety and game shows and was a much-in-demand regular with hosts Jack Paar, Merv Griffin, and Johnny Carson. White then appeared on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in its fourth season, and her star turn as the memorable Sue Ann Nivens resulted in two Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress, first in 1974-75 then in 1975-76.

Equally, if not more beloved, was her spirited performance as Rose Nylund on the critically acclaimed and breakout hit The Golden Girls (1985-1992), for which she was nominated seven times for an Emmy, winning once in 1985. The series also starred Bea Arthur, Estelle Getty, and Rue McClanahan—who, with White, were inducted as Disney Legends in 2009.

After The Golden Girls, White appeared in a spin-off series, The Golden Palace, won an Emmy for her work on The John Larroquette Show, received an Emmy nomination for Suddenly Susan, and continued to appear on television shows such as Ally McBeal, That ’70s Show, The Practice, Boston Legal, The Bold and the Beautiful, Ugly Betty, Hot in Cleveland, and Young & Hungry. White also appeared as herself in the animated series Family Guy and The Simpsons. For Disney, she performed A Conversation with Betty White, taped at the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park (now known as Disney’s Hollywood Studios) for Disney Channel, starred in the series Empty Nest as Rose Nylund, and appeared in Maybe This Time. She supplied the voice of Round in Disney’s Whispers: An Elephant Tale. She played Mrs. Kline in the Touchstone Pictures film Bringing Down the House, opposite Disney Legend Steve Martin, and later gave a scene stealing performance as Grandma Annie in the comedy film The Proposal. In 2019, she joined the voice cast of the Disney and Pixar film Toy Story 4 as Bitey White, a toy tiger named in her honor, later reprising her role in an episode of the Disney+ Original Series Forky Asks a Question.

“The miracle of miracles is that I not only got to work for Disney many years ago… [but] I’m still working for Disney,” White said in 2009, quipping, “They haven’t caught on to me yet!”

White is the author or co-author of seven books, and in 2006 was honored by the City of Los Angeles as the “Ambassador to the Animals” for her lifelong work for animal welfare.

White was preceded in death by her husband, Allen Ludden.