{"id":1957767,"date":"2025-08-13T11:35:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T11:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1957767"},"modified":"2025-08-13T11:35:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T11:35:10","slug":"whats-happening-star-danielle-spencers-final-days-before-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/whats-happening-star-danielle-spencers-final-days-before-death\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s Happening Star Danielle Spencer’s Final Days Before Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Danielle Spencer<\/strong>\u2019s mom, Cheryl Pelt<\/strong>, revealed that her daughter was hospitalized nearly two weeks before her death.<\/p>\n

Pelt told TMZ<\/a> on Wednesday, August 13, that the What\u2019s Happening!!<\/em> star was admitted to the hospital on August 1 \u201cafter a urinary tract infection turned septic.\u201d The publication reported that Spencer was also suffering from pneumonia in both lungs. The late actress was being fed and medicated through tubes during her final days.<\/p>\n

News broke on Tuesday, August 12, that Spencer had died at age 60<\/a> one day prior, following a years-long battle with cancer.<\/p>\n

Pelt\u2019s interview with TMZ revealed that Spencer was \u201ctalking and alert\u201d while family was visiting her in the hospital this past weekend. Spencer experienced a \u201ccode blue,\u201d according to her mom, and was transferred to the ICU. Pelt said that Spencer died of cardiac arrest and gastric cancer.<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Celebrity Deaths of 2025: Stars We’ve Lost This Year<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tFrom filmmakers to artists, Hollywood lost many stars in 2025. News broke on January 4 that Aubrey Plaza\u2019s estranged husband, Jeff Baena, died one day earlier at the age of 47. Per medical examiner records viewed by Us Weekly, Baena died by suicide. \u201cThis is an unimaginable tragedy,\u201d Plaza\u2019s rep said in a statement to [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Spencer was known for her role as Dee Thomas in the ABC comedy What\u2019s Happening!!<\/em>, which aired from 1976 to 1979. The actress reprised her role for the spinoff series, What\u2019s Happening Now!!<\/em>, which aired from 1985 to 1988.<\/p>\n

While Spencer had a few more acting roles over the years, she eventually retired from the spotlight and became a veterinarian.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrilliance! It comes in a great many forms. We all have them and we all have this family\u2019s \u2014 Dr. Danielle Spencer (June 24, 1965 \u2013 August 11, 2025),\u201d Spencer\u2019s former costar, Haywood Nelson<\/strong>, shared in an Instagram tribute on Tuesday. \u201cDr. Dee, our brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior, without fail, has finally found her release from the clutches of this world and a body.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He added, \u201cWe have lost a daughter, sister, family member, What\u2019s Happening cast member, veterinarian animal rights proponent and healer, and cancer heroine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spencer went public with her breast cancer diagnosis in 2014, years after a separate health battle. In 1977, Spencer was in a car accident that killed her stepfather. She briefly experienced paralysis due to spinal stenosis following the accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith everything that I\u2019ve been through with the spinal cord injury, I said I know God is not going to give me another affliction,\u201d Spencer shared in an interview following her cancer diagnosis. \u201cSo, I was completely shocked when the doctors told me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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