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"I don't know if she ever embraced it, [or] really, really felt it. The extent of it. I really don't," he continues. "I would always reinforce it with her because I always felt she should know that. I never wanted her to think while she was sitting at home, that the world has passed her by. It never did."
"Betty lived a great life and she lived a life that she chose. She was happy," Witjas adds. "Every time I told her, 'Betty, you're loved,' she would look at me with a wry smile and say, 'Really?' I hope she knew.
I think she did. It was something beyond love."
Witjas — who previously confirmed to PEOPLE that the actress — had a close bond with the star, who he considered to be not only a work colleague, but a dear friend.
"She was an incredible lady. Hard to put into words," he tells PEOPLE. "We had a special relationship, far more than just a client."
"We became really good friends and we always laughed no matter what we did. She was always positive and she always saw the bright side," Witjas continues.
"She promised me she would live to 100 — and she almost did."
Continuing to speak about White, Witjas says that the iconic star spent most of the final years of her life in her L.A. home.
"[She] was really simply spending each day at her home. She didn't go out. She was under a doctor's care, not for any reason, other than just being careful with COVID," he says.
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