THE cause of U.S. actress Betty White’s death on New Year’s Eve, at age 99, was a stroke she had suffered nearly a week earlier, a copy of the performer’s death certificate posted online by TMZ.com Monday showed.

The partially redacted certificate stated White’s cause of death as a “cerebrovascular accident,” a medical term for a stroke or the loss of blood flow to the brain caused by a clot or ruptured blood vessels, resulting in brain tissue damage.

According to the document, issued by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the stroke occurred six days prior to White’s death. The health agency and the county Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office, where vital records are kept, both declined to comment.

TMZ cited unnamed sources as saying White had remained alert and coherent following her stroke.

White, who remained a pop culture phenomenon well into her 90s, long after Emmy-winning roles on television sitcoms “The Golden Girls” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” died in sleep at home Dec. 31, less than three weeks shy of her 100th birthday.(SD-Agencies)