Whoopi Goldberg Says She Gives ‘Zero You Know Whats’ if Someone Doesn’t Like Her — Here’s Why (Exclusive)
The actress discusses the healthy attitude that has made her a “much better human being” in her sixth decade
Timothy White; Blackstone Publishing
If someone doesn't like Whoopi Goldberg, that’s fine by her.
During an interview with PEOPLE in advance of her upcoming memoir, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me out May 7, the comedy legend and EGOT winner discussed the self confidence that has carried her throughout much of her successful, decades-long career.
“I have to say, the same attitude I had in my forties, I have in my sixties. … I give zero you-know-whats. If I don’t want to do it, I’m okay with walking away,” she tells PEOPLE, in this week’s issue. “Pick your battles and then fight those.”
Having joined The View in 2007 Goldberg, like her cohosts, has been criticized at times, sometimes for her opinions but also for more trivial things, including rewearing a buffalo plaid jacket on the show.
Everett Collection
Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Barbara Walters on 'The View' in 2007."People are kvetching at me about the fact that I still am wearing this red-and-black check thing," Goldberg said during an episode of The View in May 2020, pointing to the garment. "People say I wear it too much."
"Look at me: do I care?" the host continued. "No. 'Cause I’m comfortable in this bad boy!"
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Goldberg is certainly aware she has critics, but thanks to her positive attitude, she says she lets their commentary roll right off.
“Most of the time I think, 'Well, you don't know me well enough to dislike me,'” she tells PEOPLE. “You dislike aspects of me, but you don't know me to dislike me, so I'm not going to sweat it.”
Related: Whoopi Goldberg to Publish New Memoir in Spring 2024: 'It's Dedicated to Love' (Exclusive)
Paramount Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty
Whoopi Goldberg with Patrick Swayze in 'Ghost.'Still, there are many more people who admire Goldberg for her dynamic body of work, from her breakout role as Celie in the 1985 drama The Color Purple and her comical, Oscar-winning performance as Oda Mae Brown in 1990's Ghost to her portrayal of undercover lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier in 1992’s Sister Act and its sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.
The actress has also gone out of her way to give back, appearing in the season 11 episode of Reading Rainbow entitled “Amazing Grace.” She explained in the recent documentary Butterfly in the Sky her personal reasons for participating in the beloved children’s show.
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“Now you may ask why would you do something like Reading Rainbow? I mean, you’re not making any money,” she said. “What is the pull? I can tell you why it was for me, because I’m dyslexic. So I learned to read long after I should've. Reading opens everything.”
In reflecting on her decades in the spotlight, Goldberg sums up her life simply.
“I’m so glad I got here,” she says.
Bits and Pieces is on sale May 7, and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.
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