Whoopi Goldberg Reveals She Once ‘Flirted’ With Suicide
Whoopi Goldberg reflected on coping with the deaths of her mother, Emma Johnson, and brother, Clyde Johnson, before revealing that she “once flirted” with suicide during a recent interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
“The View” co-host, in an episode for Cooper’s “All There Is” podcast, was asked about an excerpt from her upcoming memoir, “Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother and Me,” in which she wrote that she occasionally felt like asking, “Why did y’all leave me here?”
Goldberg ― whose mother died in 2010 after she suffered a stroke and whose brother died five years later due to a brain aneurysm ― noted that the answer to the question is “’cause we have stuff we gotta get done,” adding that our children and grandchildren “need to know us.”
“And I once flirted, once flirted with, thinking about leaving,” Goldberg said.
“And then I thought, ‘How? What a terrible thing that would be to do to my kid, to knowingly do to my kid who actually likes me.’”
Goldberg went on to discuss her love for her daughter Alexandrea “Alex” Martin Dean, who she described as a really good person and “fine woman” who has raised “three fine, very bizarre children” with her husband.
“And why would you do that to them? Why would you leave them with that?” she said.
Cooper later asked Goldberg what she would tell a friend who is grieving the death of a loved one.
“I just recommend saying ‘I’m so sorry,’” she said, “and hug somebody or write ’em a note, say ‘I don’t know how to deal with this because it’s never happened to me.’ Be honest.”
If you or someone you know needs help, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for mental health support. Additionally, you can find local mental health and crisis resources at dontcallthepolice.com. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention.
