{"id":1861,"date":"2025-08-12T19:00:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T19:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/verifiedviral.com\/?p=1861"},"modified":"2025-08-12T19:00:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T19:00:50","slug":"danielle-spencer-whats-happening-veterinarian-advocate-passes-away-at-60","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verifiedviral.com\/?p=1861","title":{"rendered":"Danielle Spencer, \u2018What\u2019s Happening!!\u2019 &amp; Veterinarian Advocate, Passes Away at 60"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Danielle Spencer, \u2018What\u2019s Happening!!\u2019 Star and Veterinarian, Passes Away at 60<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of <strong>Danielle Spencer<\/strong>, best known for her role as Dee Thomas on the ABC sitcom *What\u2019s Happening!!* (1976\u20131979) and its spinoff *What\u2019s Happening Now!!* (1985\u20131988). She died on August 11, 2025, at the age of 60 after a long and courageous battle with cancer.([turn0news11])<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her former co-star <em>Haywood \u201cDwayne\u201d Nelson<\/em> confirmed the news and paid tribute to Spencer as \u201ca brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior,\u201d adding that she \u201cwill be missed in this form and forever embraced.\u201d([turn0news11])<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">More Than a Child Star<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Spencer\u2019s iconic character Dee was beloved for her quick wit and signature catchphrase, \u201cOoooh, I\u2019m gonna tell Mama!\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>At age 11, she shot to fame with the role that became part of television history.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Survived a horrific 1977 car accident that claimed her stepfather\u2019s life and left her in a coma for three weeks. She would later suffer paralysis from those injuries.([turn0news11])<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Veterinarian, Author, &amp; Advocate<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>After acting, Spencer earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Tuskegee University in 1993 and devoted her life to animal welfare.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Author of the memoir *Through the Fire: Journal of a Child Star*, chronicling her personal hardships and triumphs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Honored in 2014 by the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of African American History and Culture for her legacy and resilience.([turn0news11])<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Spencer is survived by her mother, Cheryl, and brother, Jeremy. She leaves behind a legacy defined by talent, perseverance, and compassion in both Hollywood and the veterinary world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sources: Entertainment Weekly, People.com, and Reuters.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Danielle Spencer, \u2018What\u2019s Happening!!\u2019 Star and Veterinarian, Passes Away at 60 It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of Danielle Spencer, best known for her role as Dee Thomas on the ABC sitcom *What\u2019s Happening!!* (1976\u20131979) and its spinoff *What\u2019s Happening Now!!* (1985\u20131988). She died on August 11, 2025, at the age&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[84,52],"tags":[483,487,486,481,480,484,485,482],"class_list":["post-1861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-news","category-trending-now","tag-animal-rights","tag-celebrity-tribute","tag-child-star-obituary","tag-danielle-spencer","tag-dee-thomas","tag-pop-culture-news","tag-veterinarian-actress","tag-whats-happening"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/verifiedviral.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/verifiedviral.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/verifiedviral.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verifiedviral.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verifiedviral.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1861"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/verifiedviral.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1863,"href":"https:\/\/verifiedviral.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1861\/revisions\/1863"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verifiedviral.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/verifiedviral.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verifiedviral.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verifiedviral.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}