Martha Ludden: Who Are Betty White’s Children?
The world of television was rocked when Betty White died in December 2021. The actress was beloved across the world for her performances on The Golden Girls and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, as well as hosting a number of game shows.
Overall, Betty White’s career on TV lasted for an astounding 80 years, during which she became an idol for many.
Now that she’s gone, many fans want to know all about her life on television, and outside of it. Such as, did Betty White have any children?
The answer is actually complicated. In fact, Betty White didn’t have any biological children but did have stepchildren, including Martha Ludden.
So, let’s find out about Betty White’s step-children.
Betty White’s Marriages
Martha Ludden is just one of Betty White’s step-children: she actually has three. The actress married three times in her lifetime, but she didn’t have any children with her first two husbands.
Her first husband was Dick Barker in 1945, who she divorced after just a year. She then married Lane Allen in 1947, but their marriage only lasted two years.
In 1963, at 41 years old, she found the man who she would stay with for almost 20 years. Betty White met Allen Ludden on the set of the game show Password in 1961, and after two proposals from Allen, Betty said yes.
(Image/ Source: Wikipedia)
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Allen Ludden had been married once previously and had three children. Betty White gladly became their stepmother.
This means that Betty White’s three (step) children are David, Sarah, and Martha Ludden.
In 2012, Betty White was asked whether she regretted not having any children. In response, she said:
“No, I’ve never regretted [not having children]. I’m so compulsive about stuff, I know if I had ever gotten pregnant, of course, that would have been my whole focus.
But I didn’t choose to have children because I’m focused on my career. And I just don’t think as compulsive as I am, that I could manage both.”
Betty White’s Children
Despite being happy not to have had any children of her own, Betty White did love having grandchildren. After the Golden Girls star appeared in the film The Proposal with Sandra Bullock, Sandra explained that she had spoken to Betty about her grandchildren.
Sandra Bullock recalled: “Betty said, ‘You know what? I never had children biologically. I married someone who had three children. And how blessed I was to have those three stepchildren.'”
(Image/ Source: abtc.ng)
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Allen Ludden’s children, David, Sarah, and Martha Ludden, all went on to have very normal jobs, outside of television – unlike their father and stepmother.
They’ve also chosen to stay out of the spotlight, despite their stepmother being one of the world’s most famous entertainers.
However, we do know a little about the three.
Her eldest stepchild is David, who has a PhD and is now an author and teacher. He teaches Asian History at NYU and has published a book called India and South Asia: A Short History.
Sarah is the youngest of the stepchildren, and she pursued a career in sport. She owns a martial arts studio and also has a fifth-degree black belt from the World Seido Karate Organization and Kajukenbo Kung Fu.
That leaves one stepchild left…
Martha Ludden and Betty White
Martha Ludden is the middle child of the bunch. While Sarah and David didn’t react badly to their father remarrying, it seems that Martha did have some issues with it…
She was still a teenager when Betty and Allen married in 1963, and didn’t take a shine to Betty immediately. One report said:
“Martha was young and she deeply opposed the marriage. She was very angry at her father and made it clear she did not like Betty.”
(Image/ Source: people.com)
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Apparently, there wasn’t just tension between Martha Ludden and Betty, either. In fact, Martha’s resistance to her new stepmother translated into fights with Allen too.
An insider once said: “Allen used to argue with Martha constantly over her anger towards Betty. Her tumultuous relationship with her father caused him a lot of grief.”
However, it seems that things did get better as Martha Ludden grew up. Perhaps the loss of their father in 1981 to cancer strengthened the bond between the stepchildren and Betty?
Betty White celebrated her 98th birthday with her close friends and her stepchildren in 2020 – so we think Betty’s and Martha Ludden’s relationship must have been repaired.
