In a very candid discussion during today’s episode of The View, Whoopi Goldberg has spoken candidly about a “major” urinary tract infection she had for nearly 40 years — and reveals how she’s “grateful” she went through the unpleasant experience because it resulted in her endometriosis diagnosis.
The 67-year-old got candid during a discussion about women’s health care on The View, telling her cohosts that it drives her “crazy” to know that women “still have to beg” for good care.
The panel was joined by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and filmmaker Shannon Cohn to discuss the latter’s documentary – Below The Belt – on endometriosis, when Whoopi decided to share her own journey with the chronic condition.
“For me, I’ve had it once,” she said of the struggle to get a diagnosis.
‘I was lucky because I had a urinary tract infection that I didn’t take care of… pay attention people, don’t let that stuff out! Things happen in your body (and) I ended up with what looked like…I don’t want to make you dirty…suddenly there was a smell and it looked like cottage cheese. I didn’t know what was going on!
Whoopi Goldberg opened up about her “gross” diagnosis of endometriosis more than four decades ago during Wednesday’s episode of The View
The View panel discussed women’s health and endometriosis with Hillary Clinton (left) and filmmaker Shannon Cohn
Whoopi, pictured here in 1986, is believed to have suffered from the condition around 1979 when she was younger
‘I was lucky enough to meet someone who said this was called endometriosis and they were able to treat me with antibiotics. That’s because someone knew what he was looking at.’
Referring to Shannon’s new film, Whoopi continued, “When I saw this documentary and I heard that it takes six to 10 years to even get diagnosed, I don’t understand that. What are they doing in medical school?!”
“It drives me crazy that we still have to beg for health care. We pay taxes, women pay taxes! I don’t understand why when doctors go to school forever, they don’t learn anything about a woman’s body!’ she smoked.
“You’ve got all these people making these comments and you know you have no idea how this works!”
Ednometriosis causes tissue similar to that growing in the uterus to deposit outside it.
It can cause pelvic pain and heavy periods and can cause tissue formation on organs including the bladder and intestines. There is currently no cure.
Hillary, 76, executive producer for Below The Belt, said the model for women’s health is “firing, underestimating, gaslighting.”
She continued, “The result is that… I don’t know how many generations, hundreds of years, of women not knowing what to believe for themselves. If you have acute pain, a result of endometriosis, and you try to tell people about it and they say, “It’s in your head either because you’re having your period or because women go through this, don’t worry about it,” and it goes like this: lasts for years.’
She added: ‘There is clearly a huge gap between how not only the medical profession, but also society, views women’s pain and how the reality of it is lived out in our lives. That’s why I was so proud to be associated with this film.”
Sara Haines, 46, added: ‘Part of the problem is funding. Bipartisan efforts are underway to secure more funding for endometriosis research. There’s not enough money.’
Mother-of-one Whoopi argued that women in the US ‘still have to beg for healthcare’
Shannon is the director of the 2023 documentary about endometriosis called Below The Belt
Shannon revealed that medical students only get one hour of class on endometriosis, to which Whoopi sarcastically asked, “Is that why they don’t believe when we have severe cramps either, because they only have one hour?”
Shannon continued, “It’s just been undervalued for so long and that translates into the research funding as well. We have a historical tradition of undervaluing women’s research in this country. Endometriosis is a perfect terrible storm of so many things.
“Menstrual taboo, gender bias in medicine, racial bias in medicine, financial barriers to care… you see all of these things playing out through the lens of a condition that affects 200 million people. Yet the answer is not just one thing: research funding is indeed a good place to start. We adopt a proactive approach.’
Despite the serious nature of Wednesday’s discussion, some viewers had trouble getting past Whoopi’s graphic description.
“I didn’t expect Whoopi to talk about the time she had a cottage cheese-like discharge and a funny smell down there,” one person wrote online. “But I respect that she doesn’t shy away from such topics on The View.”
“Whoopi real confessions… take care of yourself,” a second posted, while a third shared a vomiting emoji and wrote: “Whoopi had to go with cottage cheese…”