Danielle Spencer was born on June 24, 1965, in Trenton, New Jersey. By her teenage years, she was a star via the What’s Happening!! TV sitcom of the 1970s. During that time, she got involved in a horrific car accident. In 1996, Spencer became a veterinarian. This is her story.
TV Stardom was soon Followed by Tragedy
Following the cancelation of What’s Happening!! in 1983, Danielle Spencer enrolled at the University of California to pursue a degree in medicine, inspired by her stepfather, Tim Pelt.
In 1977, she was in a car accident that took Pelt’s life and left her with a broken left arm and facial injuries. She remained at the University until 1985, when she returned to TV in What’s Happening, Now!!, the 1980s syndicated sequel sitcom to her original series.
Spencer, however, still became a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. Following the end of the second Happening!! series, she attended Tuskegee University Veterinary School in Alabama and became a veterinarian in 1996. That same year, she married Garry Fields.