Entertainment> Celebrities

Betty White books to reflect on sex, aging, animals

(Agencies)
2010-08-19 09:56

Betty White poses for a photograph in Los Angeles, California May 26, 2010.[Photo/Agencies]

Betty White will write two books reflecting on everything from aging, sex and celebrity to her animal friends at the zoo as the octogenarian continues riding a wave of popularity.

White, 88, will write about lessons learned in her decades-long Hollywood career with a focus on the past 15 years in the first book, "Listen Up!," while the second, "The Zoo and I: Betty and Her Friends," will feature stories and pictures of animals at the zoo.

"Much as I love what I do for a living in show business, I love writing even more -- so I am thrilled to be working on not only one new book but two of them," White, a long-time board member of the Los Angeles Zoo, said in a statement.

G.P. Putnam's Sons, an imprint of Pearson-owned Penguin, will publish "Listen Up!" early next year and "The Zoo and I: Betty and Her Friends" will be released in 2012.

White starred on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "The Golden Girls," and in recent years has seen a resurgence in her celebrity by contrasting her sweet, matronly image with a sometimes foul mouth.

The Emmy Award winner, who has a career dating back to the early days of live television, hosted "Saturday Night Live" in May, delivering the late-night show one of its highest rated episodes ever.