Vanna Whitehas been one of the stars ofWheel of Fortunefor nearly four decades, landing the dream job in 1982. When she auditioned for the gig, she says she was so nervous that her lips and knees were shaking — but the show’s creator Merv Griffin loved the chemistry between her and Pat Sajak, and gave her the letter-turning gig.
“He said it was like brotherly and sisterly chemistry,” White, 62, says in the new issue of PEOPLE, adding that in the 37 years they’ve been on air together, she and Sajak have never had a single fight in real life. (Well once, aboutwhether or not to put ketchup on a hot dog— something that Chicago-native Sajak says is verboten.)
But in 1986, tragedy struck for White when her then-fiancé, theYoung and the Restlessactor John Gibson, was killed when the plane he was flying crashed outside Van Nuys airport near Los Angeles.
“It was May 17, 1986,” White recalls. “The second I heard about it, I fell to my knees. It was just devastating.” White now credits the outpouring of love fromWheel of Fortunefans with helping her cope at the time. “I heard from so many people who had shared the same experience of losing someone instantly in an accident, and that really helped me. I didn’t feel like I was alone. Because when something like that happens, you immediately think you’re the only one.”
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White says she once again turned to friends, family and fans. “You have to take their support and try to be strong. It’s so hard, but you just have to think, ‘What would they want me to do?’ " She also embraced her faith. “I’m a Christian and have always had my own personal relationship with God,” she says. “I don’t preach about it, because everyone’s entitled to their own beliefs. But I pray. I pray every day.”
Sami Drasin
After White and Santo Pietro split amicably in 2002, White found love again seven years ago with her now live-in boyfriend, real estate developer John Donaldson, 53, whom she met when a friend brought him to one of her barbecues.
“I remember looking at him and thinking, ‘He’s really cute,’ " she says with a laugh. “We ended up talking for a long time that night.” They’ve been together ever since. “It just works,” she says of their breezy relationship. “He lets me be me, I let him be him. There is no drama.”
As for staying on the job a little while longer, White says she has no plans to retire from the show anytime soon. “We’re one big family,” she says of theWheel of Fortunecast and crew. “It’s wonderful.”
source: people.com
