Bob Barker, Legendary television host of The Price Is Right, has died at the age of 99.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce that the World’s Greatest MC who ever lived, Bob Barker, has left us,” Barker’s publicist Roger Neal said in a statement.
His Barker’s girlfriend, Nancy Burnet, broke her silence to say that she is ‘so proud of the trailblazing work’ that ‘did together to expose the cruelty to animals in the entertainment industry and including working to improve the plight of abused and exploited animals in the United States and internationally.’
‘We were great friends over these 40 yrs. He will be missed,’ he partner, 79, said in her own statement, obtained by People.
About Bob Barker girlfriend
Who is Nancy Burnet?
The former The Price Is Right host was linked to Nancy Burnet since 1983, two years after the death of his wife Dorothy Jo Gideon. Barker and Burnet were together for four decades until the TV legend died of natural causes in August 2023. He was 99 years old.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce that the World’s Greatest MC who ever lived, Bob Barker, has left us,” Barker’s publicist Roger Neal said in a statement.
Burnet added in her own statement, “I am so proud of the trailblazing work Barker, and I did together to expose the cruelty to animals in the entertainment industry and including working to improve the plight of abused and exploited animals in the United States and internationally. We were great friends over these 40 yrs. He will be missed.”
Following Barker’s retirement from the hit game show in 2007, he only made a few public appearances. However, Burnet told Fox News in 2022 that he was “in very good for his age, adding that “his humor is still in good shape.”
She continued, “He’s had a very charmed life.”
She and Barker met in 1983
Nancy Burnet and Bob Barker met at an animal adoption event on March 27, 1983, hosted by Barker and actor Earl Holliman, per Fox News.
At the time, Burnet was not very familiar with The Price Is Right or Barker, but when a friend told her about his involvement in the spay-neuter movement, she was intrigued. She approached him about a different project, and they connected over a shared love of animal rights advocacy.
She’s the president of a nonprofit organization
Burnet founded United Activists for Animal Rights in 1987, an animal rights group based in California. She serves as the president of the organization, which is supported by Barker.
She has also served as the director of the DJ&T Foundation since 2000. Founded in 1994 by Barker, the foundation provides spaying and neutering services at a low cost. DJ&T was named after Barker’s late wife Gideon and mother Matilda “Tillie” Barker.
She and Barker got involved with animals everywhere they went
Though the couple were committed to animal rights at home, it’s also something that had a tendency to follow them on their travels.
“Just about everywhere we ever traveled, we became involved in some animal issue or something,” she told Fox News. During one trip to the Cayman Islands, they attempted to organize a protest after learning a circus was coming to town.
“They were happy to see us leave Cayman,” she shared.
On a trip to Hawaii, something similar happened when the pair found an injured pit bull loose in a tourist area begging for food. The two believed the dog had been in a fight since they saw a piece of the skin on its side had been ripped away.
“We found out that it wasn’t dog fighting at all. It was because of hunting pigs with pits,” Burnet said. “And so we tried to get a campaign going for that, and they were happy to see us leave there. We weren’t welcome in a lot of places.”
She worked on Barker’s “greatest living legacy”
In 2018, Barker donated over 400 acres in Moreno Valley, California, to DonkeyLand, a nonprofit rescue organization that works with injured and sick wild donkeys and burros.
This land helped fence off part of the property so the animals can be protected and still roaming freely. Burnet called the donation Barker’s “greatest living legacy,” and in total, he has donated millions of dollars to DonkeyLand through his charitable organizations.
“That was a disaster,” she told Fox News. “Donkeys were being hit by cars, trains, it was a hideous situation.”
“Five hundred acres that’s fenced and that’s thanks to Bob Barker and Nancy Burnet and the foundation for the generous contributions for the sanctuary and the fencing,” Chad Cheatham, vice president of Donkeyland, told NBC Los Angeles.
Barker said he would never remarry
After the death of his wife of 36 years, Bob Barker remained committed to keeping Gideon’s memory alive and kept true to his word that he would never remarry.
“She was with me all the time until she died,” Barker told Esquire in 2007. “For some men, maybe a second or third marriage would work out fine. In my case, I had my marriage and she was the love of my life.”
Despite their decades-long relationship, Bob Barker and Nancy Burnet never tied the knot.
When did Bob Barker die?
Bob Barker passed away in his home in Los Angeles on August 26, 2023. He was 99 years old and died from natural causes.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce that the World’s Greatest MC who ever lived, Bob Barker has left us,” the star’s publicist Roger Neal said in a statement.
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