Danielle Spencer’s mom, Cheryl Pelt, revealed that her daughter was hospitalized nearly two weeks before her death.
Pelt told TMZ on Wednesday, August 13, that the What’s Happening!! star was admitted to the hospital on August 1 “after a urinary tract infection turned septic.” 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.
News broke on Tuesday, August 12, that Spencer had died at age 60 one day prior, following a years-long battle with cancer.
Pelt’s interview with TMZ revealed that Spencer was “talking and alert” while family was visiting her in the hospital this past weekend. Spencer experienced a “code blue,” according to her mom, and was transferred to the ICU. Pelt said that Spencer died of cardiac arrest and gastric cancer.
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Spencer was known for her role as Dee Thomas in the ABC comedy What’s Happening!!, which aired from 1976 to 1979. The actress reprised her role for the spinoff series, What’s Happening Now!!, which aired from 1985 to 1988.
While Spencer had a few more acting roles over the years, she eventually retired from the spotlight and became a veterinarian.
“Brilliance! It comes in a great many forms. We all have them and we all have this family’s — Dr. Danielle Spencer (June 24, 1965 – August 11, 2025),” Spencer’s former costar, Haywood Nelson, shared in an Instagram tribute on Tuesday. “Dr. Dee, our brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior, without fail, has finally found her release from the clutches of this world and a body.”
He added, “We have lost a daughter, sister, family member, What’s Happening cast member, veterinarian animal rights proponent and healer, and cancer heroine.”
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.
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“With everything that I’ve been through with the spinal cord injury, I said I know God is not going to give me another affliction,” Spencer shared in an interview following her cancer diagnosis. “So, I was completely shocked when the doctors told me.”
Spencer said that she had “a lot of help and support around me” during the same interview and shared that her course of treatment was surgery.
“I’m trying to get as many opinions as possible, but it does look like that is what I’m going to do,” she added. “Hopefully after that there won’t be any chemotherapy or radiation involved.”
Prior to her death, Spencer was married to marketing manager Garry Fields from 1999 to 2013. Spencer married entrepreneur David L. David in 2014.
