Who was Danielle Spencer’s husband? All about beloved child star’s personal life as she passes away

Danielle Spencer, beloved child star best known for her role in the 1970s ABC sitcom What’s Happening!! recently passed away. Spencer is survived by her mother, Cheryl Pelt, her younger brother, musician Jeremy Pelt, and her husband, David L. David. Spencer tied the knot with David, a New Jersey-based entrepreneur, in 2014, following her divorce from Garry Fields, her marketing manager and publicist, in 2013. 

Spencer, who played Dee Thomas in the ABC sitcom, died at the age of 60 on Monday, August 11, in a hospital in Richmond, Virginia. The news of her passing was shared by her co-star Haywood Nelson, who played Dwayne Nelson alongside her on the sitcom.

In an Instagram post, uploaded on the same day, Nelson stated:

"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). Dr. Dee, our brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior, without fail, has finally found her release from the clutches of this world and a body. We celebrate Danielle Spencer and her contributions as we regret to inform her departure and transition from a long battle with cancer."

He continued:

"We have lost a daughter, sister, family member, What’s Happening!! cast member, veterinarian, animal rights proponent and healer, and cancer heroine. Our Shero. Danielle is loved. She will be missed in this form and forever embraced."

Danielle Spencer’s personal life & acting career explored

Born on June 24, 1965, in New Jersey, Danielle was raised in the Bronx, New York City by her mother, a French teacher, and stepfather, actor Tim Pelt. Her acting career began at the age of seven in a repertory company that her stepfather had co-founded, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Danielle Spencer played Dee Thomas in What’s Happening!! for three seasons from 1976 to 1979. However, in 1977, during the show's second season, she was critically injured in a car accident while traveling on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California. The incident killed her stepfather, and left her in a coma for three weeks, suffering multiple fractures in her leg, arm, and pelvis.  

Spencer later reprised her role in the show's sequel, What’s Happening Now!! from 1985 to 1988. Beyond her iconic role as Dee in the sitcom, she also featured in The Family Feud (1979), Christmas at Walt Disneyworld (1978), The Tap Dance Kid (1978) and The Brady Bunch Special (1977), and Soul Train (1987).

She later relocated to Africa with her mother for a period, and returned to the U.S to enroll in the University of California, Davis, where she began studying veterinary medicine. Subsequently, in 1993, Spencer earned a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Tuskegee University Veterinary School in Alabama and went on to practice as a veterinarian for 22 years. 

In 2003, complications from those injuries led to a spinal cord condition that impaired her ability to walk, eventually confining her to a wheelchair. This required her to undergo intensive physical therapy at The Kessler Physical Rehabilitation Center in West Orange, New Jersey, where she relearned how to walk with crutches.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Spencer decided to move to Richmond after marrying David. However, her plans were put on hold after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014, which led her to undergo a double mastectomy. 

After she was free from cancer following four months of chemotherapy, Spencer underwent an emergency brain surgery in 2018 due to internal bleeding. According to a GoFundMe, which was launched to cover her health expenses, Spencer began experiencing severe headaches. Despite multiple hospital visits, the headaches persisted until she became unconscious, which led to emergency brain surgery.

Spencer, who had no children with either of her former or current husbands, also wrote a memoir titled Through the Fire … Journal of a Child Star.

Meanwhile, Danielle Spencer's final acting role was a 2001 episode of Days of Our Lives, where she appeared as a Salem Place Vender.