Whoopi Goldberg claims her clergyman dad was gay in new memoir & admits her mom never divorced him after he walked out
WHOOPI Goldberg’s mother told the star her estranged father was gay but they never divorced – despite the fact he walked out on the family when she was just a child.
The View co-host gets honest about her difficult relationship with her father, Robert James Johnson, in her new autobiography, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me.
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The View co-host releases her new memoir on May 7 which chronicles her early yearsCredit: Getty
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Whoopi opens up in the book about her relationship with her late mother EmmaCredit: Getty
Her dad, a clergyman, reportedly died in May 1993, and she has previously admitted she didn’t think he liked her as he had little to do with his two children.
Whoopi, whose real name is Caryn Johnson, was raised by her single mom Emma, and had an older brother, Clyde.
Writing in her new book, she said, “My mother didn’t talk about the marriage ending because she stayed married to him until the day he passed, nor do I think she ever thought of it as a failure.
“It turns out that my dad was gay. Which couldn’t have been easy either.”
She later asked her mother how she knew he was gay, but she wouldn’t reveal too much information and had no interest in dating after they split as he was “the love of her life.”
Whoopi has also sworn off romance after three past marriages and has been plagued by rumors regarding her own sexuality.
During an interview with Raven-Symone on “The Best Podcast Ever”, Whoopi poured cold water on the whispers, after her former co-host said, “You give me lesbian vibes!”
DIFFICULT CHILDHOOD
Whoopi responded, “Women have been asking me this for as long as I’ve been around, I am not a lesbian. But I know lots of them, and I’ve played them on television.”
Meanwhile, she also explained in her new book that her mother worked tirelessly as a nurse to keep a roof over their heads without government assistance or child support.
Her dad was reportedly a clergyman, and was raised in a strict Southern Baptist household, while she mentions in her book he had many gigs including being a diamond merchant and a postal worker.
Whoopi said her mom tried to get her dad to pay child support, but helping Black women in the projects in New York in the 1960s was “not high on the state court’s priority list” and she couldn’t afford to hire a lawyer.
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Whoopi revealed her dad and grandfather did step in to help the family somewhat when her mother had a mental breakdown and ended up hospitalized for two years.
The U.S. Sun previously revealed how the star saved her from suicide as she tried to put her head in their oven, with Whoopi grabbing her waist and pulling her out before getting help.
She explained her mother didn’t recognize her children or know anything about her life after having electric shock therapy but managed to get better.
The mom-of-two, who worked as a nurse before falling ill, even went on to get her Master’s Degree and raise Whoppi’s young daughter, Alex, while she was away working.
Whoopi lost her mother in August 2010 following a stroke, and her brother passed five years later after suffering a brain aneurysm.
She opened up about her father on The View while discussing Kelly Rowland reuniting with her dad after 30 years.
“We know lots of people who can’t be what we would like them to be, what they might like to be,” she said. “But we can respect them for who they are.”
Whoopi’s autobiography will be released on May 7, 2024.
Whoopi Goldberg’s biggest memoir revelations
WHOOPI Goldberg shares a number of honest revelations in her memoir, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me. From battling drugs in the ’80s to saving her mom from an attempted suicide, here are some of the biggest revelations she shares.
In her book, Whoopi writes about her mother’s tragic mental breakdown and how she saved her from suicide when she was a child.
She documented how her family, including her brother Clyde, who died of a brain aneurysm five years later, shaped her early life while growing up in public housing in New York.
Whoopi recalled how she came home early from elementary school one day and found her mom looking “disheveled” and barefoot wearing a slip dress under a black trench coat.
“I watched as she went over to the oven, turned it on, and put her head in there,” she recalled of the disturbing moment,” she wrote.
“I was old enough to know this was really bad news. I ran over and grabbed her around the waist and pulled her out.”
BATTLE WITH DRUGS
The Oscar-nominated star also admitted to hitting rock bottom in the 1980s when recreational drug use in Hollywood was at a high.
She classed herself as a “very high-functioning addict” who would still show up on set and do her job for about a year until she realized she was getting “sloppy” at work.
One “slap-in-the-face” moment took place while she was staying at a luxury hotel in Manhattan for her birthday when somebody had given her an ounce of cocaine.
RELATIONSHIP WITH FATHER
Whoopi also shared details of her relationship with her estranged father who walked out on her family when she was a child.
“My mother didn’t talk about the marriage ending because she stayed married to him until the day he passed, nor do I think she ever thought of it as a failure,” she wrote.
“It turns out that my dad was gay. Which couldn’t have been easy either.”
Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me, will be released on May 7, 2024.
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Whoopi grew up poor in the projects in New York before moving to California to further her acting careerCredit: Blackstone Publishing
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The 68-year-old star said she wrote the book to stop her memories from fadingCredit: Getty
