Former US first lady Betty Ford has died at the age of 93, her family announced late Friday.
Ford, widow of former president Gerald Ford was being treated at a hospital in Rancho Mirage, California before her death, DPA reported.
The Fords were married in 1948 and had three sons and a daughter.
Gerald Ford became president in 1974 following the resignation of Richard Nixon over the Watergate scandal. He died in December 2006.
Elizabeth Anne (Betty) Bloomer was born in Chicago on April 8 1918. In her youth, she had a passion for dance which led to inclusion in a group under reknown choreographer Martha Graham in New York. Her marriage to Ford was her second.
She was an advocate for women's rights and spoke openly about her addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs in the late 1970s.