Betty White turned 97 years old on Thursday, and the iconic actress was showered with love by all of her celebrity friends!
A number of stars took to social media to pen sweet messages for the Golden Girls legend, including Ryan Reynolds, Ellen DeGeneres, Hoda Kotb, Melissa Rivers, and Cloris Leachman, according to Us Weekly .
Reynolds shared his birthday shout-out for the star on Instagram. He shared a sweet photo of himself and White as guests on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2010, in which the actor gently cradled White’s hand as the pair glanced at each other.
“I don’t usually post about ex-girlfriends. But Betty’s special. Happy Birthday to the one and only, @bettymwhite,” Reynolds wrote in the caption.
The Deadpool actor has been close friends with White since the actress played his grandmother in the 2009 comedy The Proposal . He wished his pal a happy birthday last year as well, sharing a photo of himself eating a hot dog and drinking a martini next to an image of White also eating a hot dog, People reported.
Daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres also posted a tweet to wish her dear friend a happy birthday, writing that White should expect to see the “biggest gift” from her — with a card that “will say ‘thank you’ for being a friend.”
Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford, hosts of the Today show, shared an image of White on Twitter as well. Their share came with the caption, “Happy 97th birthday, Betty White.”
Some friends took the opportunity to share their favorite silly pictures with the Hot in Cleveland alum. Actress Cloris Leachman, for example, posted a photo of White looking distressed while Leachman stuck her tongue out at the star mid-hug.
“Happy birthday dear friend, @BettyMWhite,” Leachman captioned the image. “& I mean that with all the <3 in the world! Many, many more.”
Melissa Rivers, on the other hand, used White’s birthday as a chance to pay homage to her late mother, Joan Rivers, who passed away in 2014. She shared a photo of White and Joan laughing together on the set of The Tonight Show in 1983.
As for how the star herself spent her big day, White’s representative told Entertainment Tonight that she had plans to play Gin Rummy and poker with her closest friends. In addition, White planned to wait patiently for a phone call from her celebrity crush, 82-year-old Robert Redford. In 2016, she revealed that she “would faint” if she ever met Redford.
Redford reportedly responded later, saying that he “can’t imagine being loved by anyone better.”
