Betty White Explains the Time She Did a Live Golden Girls Taping for the Royals in Reddit AMA
By NATE JONES
UPDATED 04/29/2014 at 01:00 PM EDT • Originally published 04/29/2014 at 12:00 PM EDT
Who knew that some of the wealthiest women in the world were so enthralled with the adventures of four Florida retirees?
That’s one of the amazing stories from Betty White‘s recent Reddit AMA, in which the 92-year-old television legend recalled the time the Golden Girls cast flew to London for a live performance of a Golden Girls ****** for the British Royal Family – all at the behest of the late Queen Mother, who was a huge fan of the show.
"It was very exciting," White told the Internet message board. "The Queen was lovely. We were told not to address her unless we were addressed. She was up in a box and she came down on stage after with Princess Anne. She said, ‘Lovely, pretty girls’ and I said, ‘Not bad bodies,’ and she said ‘Oh, no, not bad bodies!’"
According to White’s 2024 memoir, the Queen in this anecdote was the late Queen Mother, who would have been in her eighties at the time.
Other highlights from White’s AMA session:
She has a few choices for who should play her in a biopic
With classic humor, Betty White brushed off one of the standard AMA questions: Who would she want to play her in a movie? "I would love it if it were Meryl Streep or Julie Andrews," she wrote, "but they would probably get someone like Chris Rock."
She survives on less sleep than you do
At 92, White has a standard daily routine. She wakes up at 6:30 a.m., goes to work at Hot in Cleveland and comes home and answers mail before turning in "around midnight." Yes, Betty White only gets six and a half hours of sleep a night. Remember that next time you come into work hungover on a Wednesday.
This was her favorite Tonight Show bit to film:
"Johnny and I were sitting at a café table on stage, and a ton of water came pouring out washing us off stage," she remembered. "The producer said, ‘Pretend it washes you away.’ Pretend?! It was 500 gallons!"
Her favorite Golden Girls cast member was Rue McClanahan
"Just being with all the girls was wonderful," Betty recalled, but she had a special bond with McClanahan. "We used to have riddles for each other between scenes and when the scene was over, we would give each other the answer."
She’s got one tip for having so much energy at her age
How has White aged so well? "Thanks to my mom and dad, good genes." Elsewhere, she answered the question of how she keeps her sense of fun: "Because I’m childish at heart!"
