The world is mourning the death of
White died on Friday at age 99, PEOPLE has confirmed, just two weeks before she would have celebrated her 100th birthday.
"Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever," her agent and close friend Jeff Witjas tells PEOPLE in a statement. "I will miss her terribly and so will the animal world that she loved so much. 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."
Following the news of her death, Hollywood's biggest stars shared tributes to the beloved actress.
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"The world ," wrote Ryan Reynolds, who had fostered a loving relationship with White over the years. "She was great at defying expectation. She managed to grow very old and somehow, not old enough. We'll miss you, Betty."
Fellow comedian called White's life "exceptional."
"I'm grateful for every second I got to spend with Betty White," DeGeneres . "Sending love to her family, friends and all of us."
As the world prepared to ring in a new year on Friday night,
: "Tonight we will raise MANY glasses to the WONDERFUL legacy of Betty White!!!"
"Our national treasure, Betty White, has passed just before her 100th birthday," . "Our Sue Ann Nivens, our beloved Rose Nylund, has joined the heavens to delight the stars with her inimitable style, humor, and charm. A great loss to us all. We shall miss her dearly."
LeVar Burton : "Y'all, with the passing of #BettyWhite we have lost one of the best humans ever!"
Kathy Griffin about several of her favorite encounters with White in a lengthy Twitter thread on Friday.
"Betty White. Where do I begin?" Griffin wrote. "I've known her long, but I think the first time I met her was when she was a guest star on Suddenly Susan in the late 90s.
Everyone was very excited she was on the show. I had accidentally parked in her parking spot that day. She walks in... yells from the back of the soundstage for everyone to hear 'Where's that redheaded bitch who stole my parking spot???' SWOON. A friendship was born."
Journalist Dan Rather "a spirit of goodness and hope."
"Betty White was much beloved because of who she was, and how she embraced a life well lived," he wrote on Twitter. "Her smile. Her sense of humor. Her basic decency. Our world would be better if more followed her example. It is diminished with her passing."
