Whoopi Goldberg recalls how she saved her mother from taking her own life before she was sent away to a psychiatric hospital for two years and given electric shock therapy: ‘We were told nothing’

Whoopi Goldberg has revealed that she didn’t see her mother for two years from the age of eight, as she was sent to Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital in New York City after attempting to commit suicide.

In her new memoir, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, And Me, the 68-year-old actor recalls feeling “protective and pissed off” as neighbors watched mother Emma Johnson being helped into an ambulance. early sixties.

In the book, out May 7, Whoopi – whose real name is Caryn Elaine Johnson – describes the day she came home from school to find her mother looking “sloppy” and barefoot while “mumbling incoherently” and confused was about where she was.

According to The American sunWhoopi writes, “I watched as she walked to the oven, turned it on, and stuck her head in. I was old enough to know this was really bad news. I ran over, grabbed her around the waist and pulled her out.”

During Wednesday’s episode of The View, Whoopi opened up about such excerpts from her new memoir during an interview with the panel, which included Joy Behar.

Joy, 81, said: ‘Do you write in the book that your mother had a nervous breakdown as a child? She had a hard, hard time and she went to Bellevue, which is scary there.

“And you didn’t really know what happened to her for two years, right? And then she came back and didn’t really remember you two? Who took care of you and Clyde?’ she asked, referring to Whoopi’s older brother, who was 14 at the time.

“Our cousin, Arlene, took care of us, and my dad showed up and he took care of us, but in those days, kids weren’t told anything, parents just disappeared, things happened,” Whoopi explained.

“And for me it was really like, ‘Oh, so they took her to this hospital and no one’s going to tell me anything and I can’t visit her,'” the Sister Act star continued.

“They just never talked about it because you didn’t, but we didn’t know any better, we didn’t know that. Now we discuss everything with children and maybe that’s not the most fun thing to do.’

When Joy asked Whoopi what happened to her mother in Bellevue, the Ghost actor confirmed, “They gave her electroshock treatments.”

Whoopi then turned to the live studio audience and said, “So here’s another reason why you should really pay attention to what’s going on politically, because there was a time in this country where your husband or your brother or any man anyone who was involved in your life could do that. make medical decisions for you.

“So my mother’s father, my grandfather and my father were okay with it. They agreed that my mother received shock treatment for two years.’

Alyssa Farah Griffin then said, “My jaw dropped to the floor that that was still legal in your lifetime,” as Sunny Hostin agreed, saying, “I was shocked too,” before describing Whoopi’s words as “so vulnerable ‘.

Whoopi, whose mother died in 2010 after suffering a stroke, responded: “The thing about grief is that… I say it in the book, you have to understand that people don’t know what to say, they don’t know. how to respond.

‘So my mother passed away and I started getting really irritated with people and thinking, “What do you mean, how do I feel?” Then I realized they didn’t have that experience, so they don’t know, so you can’t be mad at people for trying to be nice.”

When Sara Haines asked her why it seemed like the right time to write a book about her mother and brother, who sadly passed away from a brain aneurysm in May 2015 at the age of 66, Whoopi admitted, “I’m not sure.”

“I don’t know, but I knew I had to do it and I wasn’t sure if I was in deep… something about missing them because they’ve been gone for a while.

“And so I think I just started to forget a lot of things, because if you have a brother or a sister, or someone who’s been with you from the beginning, they can say, ‘No, it didn’t happen that way, it has happened.’ this way,” but everyone is gone and so I have memories of things that happened, but I don’t have specific dates or times.”

She then joked, “So in the book I said I probably should have started the book by saying that this may or may not have happened exactly the way I said it. It happened, but you know what, I can’t tell you when!’

Elsewhere in the chat, Whoopi admitted that her daughter Alexandrea Martin became “very annoyed” later in life for “abandoning” her when she rose to fame as an actor.

Referring to a comment she previously made about not telling things to children, Whoopi said: “I had to deal with this with my daughter because when I became famous I didn’t realize that I too left her because she and I were like that been this,” as she contracted her arms.

“We were our own band, just like me, my mother and my brother, we were, and when she got really annoyed with me later in life, I said, ‘What’s the problem?’ and I realized, “Oh my god, I did the same thing my mother did,” except it wasn’t my mother’s choice, I knew I was leaving.

“I knew why I left and tried to explain, which you can’t do with an eight-year-old because they only have eight years of life left, which means they might have four.”

Viewers tuning in at home took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their thoughts on the interview. One person said: ‘Whoopi blows me away with this information… #theview.’

Another person wrote: ‘It’s interesting to listen to Whoopi talk about her childhood #TheView.’

If you or someone you know needs help, you can reach Samaritans NYC at 212-673-3000 or the Trevor Lifeline at 1-866-488-7386.

For confidential help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988 or click here.