Betty Ford Dead at 93

Betty Ford has died at the age of 93, with her family at her bedside. CNN did not have additional details. From 1974 to 1977, she served as the first lady to President Gerald Ford, but she made headlines a year after leaving the White House when she announced she was seeking treatment for an addiction to painkillers and alcohol. Four years later, she helped found the treatment center that still bears her name, a desert oasis that helped pull celebrities and ordinary people from the depths of addiction.

The AP notes that she remained modest about her impact. "People who get well often say, 'You saved my life,' and 'You've turned my life around,'" she once said. "They don't realize we merely provided the means for them to do it themselves and that's all." A 2006 calculation determined that the Betty Ford Center had treated 76,000 people. Her husband of 58 years died in 2006. (More Betty Ford obituary stories.)