Whoopi Goldberg has revealed that she did not see her mother for two years since she was eight because she was sent to New York City’s Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital after she tried to take her own life.
Writing in her new memoir, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, And Me, the 68-year-old actress recalls feeling “protective and angry” as neighbors watched as her mother Emma Johnson was helped into an ambulance in early 1960s.
In the book, which will be published on May 7, Whoopi – whose real name is Caryn Elaine Johnson – describes the day she came home from school to find her mother “disheveled” and barefoot as she “mumbled incoherently” and was confused about where she was.
According The US SunWhoopi writes: “I saw her walk up to the oven, turn it on, and stick her head in there. I was old enough to know this was really bad news. I ran over, grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her out.
Whoopi Goldberg has revealed that she did not see her mother, Emma Johnson, for two years since she was eight because she was sent to a psychiatric hospital.
The 68-year-old discussed the new memoir Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, And Me on Wednesday’s episode of The View.
Whoopi said she decided to write the book because she was “starting to forget a lot of things.”
The actress recalled how she prevented her mother from taking her life back in the 60s.
During Wednesday’s episode of The View, Whoopi discussed said excerpts from her new memoir during an interview with the panel, including Joy Behar.
Joy, 81, said: ‘Do you write in the book that when you were a child your mother had what they used to call a nervous breakdown? She had a very, very difficult time and they took her to Bellevue, that’s scary.
And for two years you didn’t really know what happened to him, did you? And then she came back and didn’t really remember you two? Who took care of you and Clyde? he asked, referring to Whoopi’s older brother, who was 14 at the time.
“Our cousin, Arlene, took care of us, and my dad showed up and took care of us, but in those days kids weren’t told anything, parents would just disappear, things would happen,” Whoopi explained.
“And for me it was like, ‘oh, so they took her to this hospital and no one is going to tell me anything and I can’t go see her,'” the Sister Act star continued.
‘They just never mentioned it because you didn’t, but we didn’t know any better, we didn’t know that. “Now we talk about everything with the kids and maybe that’s not the best thing we can do.”
When Joy asked Whoopi what happened to her mother in Bellevue, the Ghost actor confirmed, “They gave her electroshock treatments.”
Addressing the live studio audience, Whoopi said: “So here’s another reason why you really need to pay attention to what’s going on politically because there was a time in this country when your husband or your brother or any man involved in your life could make medical decisions for you.
Whoopi recalled how she came home from school one day to find her mother “disheveled” and “mumbling incoherently.”
The Oscar-winning actress spoke with her co-hosts, Sunny Hostin (center) and Alyssa Farah Griffin (right), about her new book.
Whoopi also writes about her older brother Clyde in the book, who sadly died of a brain aneurysm in May 2015.
‘So my mother’s father, my grandfather and my father approved it. They gave the go-ahead for my mother to receive shock treatment for two years.’
Alyssa Farah Griffin then said, “I was left with my jaw on the floor because in your life that was still legal,” while Sunny Hostin agreed and said, “I was shocked too,” before describing Whoopi’s words as “very vulnerable.”
Whoopi, whose mother died in 2010 after suffering a stroke, responded: ‘The thing about grief is… I say it in the book, you have to understand that people don’t know what to say, they don’t know how to respond.
‘Then my mom passed away and I was getting really upset with people and thinking, “What do you mean, how do I feel?” Then I realized they haven’t had the experience, so they don’t know, so you can’t get angry at people because they’re trying to be nice.’
When asked by Sara Haines why it seemed like the right time to write a book about her mother and brother, who sadly died of a brain aneurysm in May 2015 at the age of 66, Whoopi admitted: “I’m not sure.
‘I don’t know, but I knew I had to do it and I wasn’t sure if I was deeply involved… in something about missing them because they’d been gone for a while.
“And then I think I was starting to forget a lot of things because when you have a brother or someone who’s been with you from the beginning, they can say, ‘No, it didn’t happen that way, it happened this way,’ but they’re all gone.” and so I have memories of things that happened, but I don’t have specific dates or times.
He then joked, “So in the book I said I probably should have started the book by saying this may or may not have happened exactly the way I said it.” It happened but, you know, I can’t tell you when!’
Whoopi admitted that her daughter Alexandrea Martin was “early upset” with her later in life for “leaving” when she became famous.
Whoopi photographed with her daughter and second husband, David Claessen, in 1986.
Elsewhere in the chat, Whoopi admitted that her daughter Alexandrea Martin “got really upset” with her later in life for “leaving her” when she found fame as an actress.
Referring to a comment she previously made about not telling things to children, Whoopi said: “I had to deal with this with my daughter, because when I became famous I didn’t realize that I was leaving her too because she and I had been like this’, while joining his arms.
“We were our own band, like me, my mother and my brother, we were that and when she got really angry with me later in life, I said, ‘What’s the problem?’ and I realized, ‘Oh my God.’ , I did the same thing my mother did,” except it wasn’t my mother’s choice, she knew I was leaving.
“I knew why I was leaving and I tried to explain it to him, which you can’t do to an eight-year-old because he only has eight years to live, which means he might be four.”
Viewers tuning in at home took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their thoughts on the interview when one person said: “Whoopi is blowing my mind with this information… #theview.”
Another person posted: “Interesting to hear Whoopi talk about her childhood #TheView.”
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