Representative: Comedy icon Betty White 'doing very well' amid pandemic

Comedy legend Betty White is "doing very well" at home during the COVID-19 pandemic despite her 98 years, the star's representative told NBC's "Today."

Television Academy Hall of Fame inductee White — whose five Emmy Awards include nods for her roles on "The Golden Girls" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," as well as for hosting "Saturday Night Live" — is not alone but with caregivers, the rep told the morning show in an email Sunday: "No one permitted in except those who must. Has helpers who are great with her."

The star is in good spirits, the rep said, adding that the two speak several times a week and "we always have laughs."

White, a longtime animal-welfare advocate and Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association trustee, "has [a] beautiful backyard with a number of wild animals visiting," the representative added, saying of some avian friends, "Two ducks always come by to say hello. They waddle up to her glass door and look in."

Her friend, singer-actor Tom Sullivan — with whom she wrote the 1992 book "The Leading Lady: Dinah's Story," about the blind Sullivan's guide dog — told the magazine Closer last week that White "reads the L.A. Times cover to cover." As well, said Sullivan, 73, "She owns literally thousands of crossword puzzle books and is constantly doing them to keep her mind jumping. This is really serious with her."

Earlier this month, the cable network Lifetime announced that White would star in an untitled Christmas TV-movie "in which she helps whip would-be Santas into shape, spreading the true meaning of Christmas and leading everyone to wonder: Is she secretly Mrs. Claus?”

White most recently has done vocal work on three animated projects, including the voice of toy tiger Bitey White in last year's "Toy Story 4."