The View’s Whoopi Goldberg has admitted that the “hardest” part of going through menopause is being deprived of the “choice” to have more children.
The 67-year-old Sister Act star got candid about her own experiences with menopause on Thursday’s episode of the daytime talk show, as she discussed hot flashes, low libidos and vaginal dryness with her co-hosts.
But for Whoopi, she said it was no longer the “choice” to get pregnant, which “annoyed her the most.”
Whoopi, who is now in menopause, was 18 years old when she welcomed her daughter Alexandrea in 1974 with her first husband Alvin Martin.
“You know, the hardest part for me, I will say, was when I realized the choice was taken out of my hands,” she said during her on air conversation with Womaness co-founders Sally Mueller and Michelle Jacobs.
Whoopi Goldberg has admitted that the ‘hardest’ thing about going through menopause was being given the ‘choice’ to get pregnant
Whoopi, 67, pictured with her 49-year-old daughter Alexandrea Martin in April 2015
Whoopi, pictured here with her daughter in 1993, gave birth in May 1974 when she was 18
‘Because I always had control when I became pregnant, I was in control. And I can say that the only thing that really annoyed me was the fact that I woke up and thought, “Oh, I don’t have a choice now. I’m not in charge of this anymore.”
The Oscar-winning star added: ‘But the positive was: white trousers! This made me happy!’
Joy Behar, 81, added: “I saw Whoopi go through menopause during menopause. She came here and suddenly the sweat started pouring from her head. That won’t happen, she’s over it now!’
‘One month. It took a good month,” Whoopi said, before confirming that she is now “done” with menopause.
When the topic of low libidos came up, Joy admitted, “That’s one of the annoying things, they need to fix that.”
Sunny claimed, “They have medicine for it now.”
However, Whoopi – who has been married and divorced three times – quickly corrected her, firing back: “They don’t. They lie to you! There is nothing at the moment. There is nothing!’
Joy added: ‘If men went through menopause, there would be a cure!’
The outspoken TV presenter told viewers watching at home not to be ‘scared’ of menopause
Whoopi pictured in 1986 with her daughter Alex and her then-husband David Claessen (left)
Whoopi is seen here in 1996 with her daughter Alex and one of her grandchildren
Whoopi, who has three grandchildren and one great-grandchild, added some advice: “The biggest thing is don’t be afraid of it.
‘People are afraid… things happen to you. Yes, you get older, but that doesn’t mean anything stops, it doesn’t mean your life stops, it just means you get older.’
Whoopi has previously spoken about having abortions, admitting that she had six or seven of them before she was 25.
Whoopi wrote about a harrowing experience when she was just 14 in an essay for Angela Bonavoglia’s book The Choices We Made: “I found out I was pregnant when I was fourteen. I didn’t get my period. I haven’t talked to anyone. I panicked.
‘I sat in hot baths. I was drinking these strange concoctions that girls told me about – something like Johnny Walker Red with a little bit of Clorox, alcohol, baking soda (which probably saved my stomach) and some kind of cream. You got it all mixed up.
‘I became very ill. At that moment I was more afraid of having to explain to someone what was going on than of going to the park with a pendant, and that’s what I did.’
More recently, Whoopi stated during a discussion on The View that God supports abortion because he “made us smart enough to know when it wouldn’t work for us.”
The Academy Award-winning actress has spoken openly about having abortions in the past
Whoopi and The View panel on Thursday was joined by Womaness co-founders Sally Mueller and Michelle Jacobs
Months earlier, she had delivered an impassioned speech on the “human issue” of abortion, a day after a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion suggested that a majority of justices were on the verge of overturning Roe v. Wade.
“The reason abortion happened: women in this country lived forever while it was illegal. Women, if they decide something is not right for them, they will take matters into their own hands,” she said.
“Well, we got tired of stumbling across women in bathrooms, public bathrooms, aborting themselves because they had nowhere safe, nowhere clean, nowhere to go.
“This law came about because people wanted people to have a safe and clean place.”
Whoopi continued, “Getting an abortion isn’t easy, and making that decision isn’t easy either. It’s not something people do lightly! It’s not something you can just do!
“It’s a difficult, terrible decision for people to make. And if you don’t have the tools to understand that, to start this conversation with, “I know how hard this must be for you,” if you start it by telling me I’m going to burn in hell, then you’re not for me as a human being, whether I subscribe to your religion or not. And that’s not okay!’