Cher is among the long list of celebrities who will honour Betty White’s legacy in a forthcoming NBC primetime special.
The Celebrating Betty White: America’s Golden Girl special is scheduled to release on Monday (31 January), a month after White died suffering from a stroke and two weeks before her centenary birthday celebrations.
On Friday (28 January), Cher posted a clip of her singing <em>The Golden Girls</em> theme on her social media accounts.
Her caption read: “Every friend is golden.”
In a follow-up tweet, the legendary singer explained the significance of covering the theme of Susan Harris’ well-loved sitcom, starring White, Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty.
“This was a great honour for me. I have loved Betty since I was seven,” Cher wrote.
The 75-year-old singer added that her Betty White fandom began with the American sitcom My Life with Elizabeth and also revealed she collaborated with White for a song on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour variety show.
“Betty taught me to speak like a Southern.”
In addition to featuring Cher’s cover of “Thank You For Being A Friend”, filmed on the original Golden Girls Stage 5 in Hollywood, Celebrating Betty White will also include appearances by US president Joe Biden, Drew Barrymore, Bryan Cranston, Tina Fey, Vicki Lawrence, Jimmy Fallon, Ellen DeGeneres, Jay Leno and others.
A long list of celebrities – including Dolly Parton, Michelle Obama and Ryan Reynolds – had paid tribute to the comedy legend after her death on new year’s eve last year.
White had suffered a stroke six days before she died and sources close to the actor said she was “alert and coherent” after suffering the cerebrovascular accident.
Celebrating Betty White: America’s Golden Girl premieres 31 January on NBC at 10 pm ET and 9pm CT in the US.
