Whoopi Goldberg on grieving her mother and brother

It wasn’t until Whoopi Goldberg tried to turn off her late brother’s phone, years after his death, that she realized how long he had been gone.

“I told the phone company I’ve been trying to turn off this phone for 11 years. It wasn’t until my assistant said to me, “Actually, that’s 16 years.’ That’s when I thought, ‘Let me put my feet on the ground,'” Goldberg said when asked why it was time for her to write about grief.

To sum up the memory of his brother, Clyde, and his mother, Emma, ​​who died five years apart, in 2015 and 2010, respectively, Goldberg recounts their lives in “Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me”.

Emma Johnson, the mother of Whoopi and Clyde, instilled a lot of character in her children. She taught them to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions and to be themselves despite other people’s opinions about them. It’s a philosophy Goldberg says she still carries with her today.

“(This philosophy) made me lose friends and it gained me friends. As long as I don’t harm others, I will continue to be myself,” says the 68-year-old EGOT winner.

Early in the book, Goldberg recounts her mother’s two-year experience at Bellevue Hospital after a male family member admitted her for “mental derangement,” a common excuse for hospitalizing women who do not were not subordinate to the male members of their family. Emma was kept away from her children for two years and received countless forms of electroshock therapy.

“When she finally came out, she had no idea who we were. These were the days when husbands, brothers, and fathers could make decisions about the women in the family,” Goldberg writes.

“And here we are again!” With men telling women what they can do with their bodies! » she said of anti-abortion laws, including the recent almost total ban on abortion in Arizona.

As detailed in “Bits and Pieces,” much of Goldberg’s life was steeped in political engagement. Goldberg began her career as an activist defending women’s reproductive rights. In the 1990s, she was one of the few celebrities to call for federal action to help alleviate the ongoing AIDS crisis.

In one chapter, Goldberg recalls receiving an invitation to the White House to attend a fundraising event for Bill Clinton during his second presidential campaign. Bringing his mother to the event was one of the proudest moments of his life.

Goldberg says the current political climate reminds him of those early years. “When I was growing up, the country was run only by white men. Almost no women. No people of color. So it looks like we were before. But we have no collective experience, like World War II, to draw on. That’s what makes this (weather) so hectic.

Goldberg writes in “Bits and Pieces” that she’s relieved in a sense that her mother died before Donald Trump’s presidency in 2016 (Goldberg calls her “you know who”). When asked what her mother would think of the current political turmoil in the United States, Goldberg told the Times: “It would make her very sad. This is not the America she wanted to leave behind. It is the promise of the country that we are missing. It seems there is no more promise.

Goldberg, who moved to New Jersey in 2009, travels to Manhattan four days a week to tape “The View,” which she co-hosts. since 2007, live in front of a studio audience.

As moderator of the Hot Topics table, Goldberg has delivered a resounding message every election cycle since 2016: “This (election) depends on all of you!” » She repeats it at least once a week, pointing to the audience or sometimes directly to the camera. “It doesn’t matter what we say. It doesn’t matter what the media says, what the polls say. This election depends on you.

The eldest of her family, Goldberg is the only survivor of a certain era. When it came time to write about her mother and brother, she had only her memories to rely on. “It was just, ‘Let’s hope I remember this enough to make a book about it.’ It was nice to hike these trails again. To walk through it with them.

After a joyful childhood in Manhattan, Goldberg wrote about the dedication it took to succeed as a promising actor in the early ’80s. It wasn’t until 1983 that her acting career began to take off. blossomed on stage with the premiere of her one-woman show “Spook Show,” renamed “Whoopi Goldberg” during its official Broadway premiere in 1984.

Although Goldberg’s early career had no shortage of challenges, it was the resilience her mother taught her that she believes allowed her to succeed on stage. “Anyone entering this industry needs to be resilient. You have to be because the company is supposed to flatten you. It can break you. And you have to be able to say, ‘OK, I’ve been beaten up, but I’m not depressed.’ And I will always move towards what I want.

Goldberg’s early star status allowed her to befriend some of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities of the late ’80s and early ’90s. In one chapter, she recounts the time Marlon Brando came to her, leaving her mother and brother stunned. “If there’s one thing I miss about them now, it’s being able to call them and tell them I’m doing this or that project. “You work with so-and-so!” » they might say. They were always very excited for me.

From the walks of Coney Island to the bright lights of Broadway, “Bits and Pieces” is a tribute to Goldberg’s New York adolescence. When asked what she thought of New York in 2024, Goldberg replied with a sigh: “That’s a whole different book.” We are one of the largest cities in the world and I think we are facing major problems right now. That’s why I keep saying that one of these years I’ll just run for office (mayor of New York).

Goldberg still harbors his ambition, just as his mother taught him, and hopes to return to Broadway in the future. “I’ll probably do another solo show because it’ll be cheaper for everyone. I might try to bring this to life (“Bits and Pieces”); see if it’s possible.