Whoopi Goldberg reveals in her new memoir that she was a “high-functioning” cocaine addict in the 1980s when she was on the set of some of the big films that made her famous.
“I would still show up on set on time, do my job and keep up with production. I knew people wouldn’t get paid if I didn’t show up,” the EGOT wrote Bits and pieces: my mother, my brother and me.
But she reveals that her cocaine abuse started to irritate me. I went to work and realized I was getting sloppy. I did not like it. I knew it wasn’t right.’
Although she doesn’t mention the several films she starred in while secretly high on coke, during the time described she appeared in eleven films that made her a multi-millionaire and Oscar winner.
Whoopi Goldberg opens up about her cocaine addiction in her new memoir, Bits And Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, And Me
Whoopi, pictured in 1991 with her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, writes about how, after moving to Los Angeles, she would attend parties in Hollywood where a bowl of Quaaludes would greet her at the door and rows of cocaine would be laid out for the guests .
Whoopi’s breakout role came in 1985 when she starred in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple. “I would still show up on set on time, do my job and keep up with production,” she writes in her new book
Whoopi writes about how, after moving to Los Angeles, she would attend parties in Hollywood, Bel Air and Beverly Hills, where a bowl of Quaaludes would greet her at the door and rows of cocaine would be laid out for the guests.
And while the drugs were plentiful, so were the roles in major films that thrust her into the spotlight.
Whoopi’s breakout role came in 1985 when she starred in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple.
She received critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination for her role as Celie, a black teenager living in the South in the early 20th century who suffered abuse and bigotry.
It doesn’t seem like the drugs slowed her down; from there, Whoopi appeared in Jumpin’ Jack Flash (1986), Fatal Beauty and Burglar (both 1987), Clara’s Heart and The Telephone (both 1988).
She even tried her hand at lighthearted films, appearing in Christmas at Pee-wee’s Playhouse and Beverly Hills Brats in 1988 and 1989, respectively.
In the late ’80s, she played a sociopath in Homer and Eddie and a mother in Kiss Shot.
With the release of 1990’s Ghost – shot in 1989 – Whoopi took home her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, starring opposite Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore.
Despite her success, Whoopi admits in her dark 220-page memoir that cocaine “had a hold on her…I let something else rule my life and take over me.”
The Sister Act star recalled the height of her addiction, writing that she believed she could handle the drug because she was “high-functioning.” It didn’t seem as dangerous as heroin, which she had become addicted to earlier in the 1970s.
It seems the drugs didn’t slow her down and in 1986 she starred in Jumpin’ Jack Flash. She reveals that her cocaine abuse started kicking me. I went to work and realized I was getting sloppy. I did not like it. I knew it wasn’t right’
Whoopi starred in the 1988 drama Clara’s Heart opposite a young Neil Patrick Harris
With the release of 1990’s Ghost, Whoopi took home her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, starring Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze.
It wasn’t until she had a slap-in-the-face moment that she realized she had hit rock bottom.
She described sitting on the floor of her hotel room, snorting cocaine alone, when a maid knocked on the door and let herself in.
“I screamed, she screamed and backed away and it looked like she was going to run,” Whoopi explained.
‘I had to quickly go to her and try to calm her down. She was staring at my face while I was talking,” The View host continued, before admitting that she then looked in the mirror and realized there was cocaine “all over” her face.
“I would be so ashamed if my mother knew how much coke had me.”
Later in the memoir, she describes experiencing a drug-induced hallucination.
“I hallucinated that there was something under my bed and that if I got up I would be attacked,” she writes.
Fearing the unknown monster, Whoopi reveals that she “hasn’t gotten out of bed for 24 hours” and declares “things like that don’t end well.” There is only so long a person can hold their bladder.”
Whoopi, pictured here in 1985, says she was a ‘high-functioning addict’ after moving to Los Angeles
The actor, pictured here at age 30 in March 1986, describes experiencing a drug-induced hallucination. “I hallucinated that there was something under my bed and that if I got up I would be attacked,” she writes
Whoopi reveals how her mother, Emma, was sent to a mental hospital
Elsewhere in the candid memoir, Whoopi says she saved her mother, Emma, from committing suicide shortly before she was taken to Bellevue Mental Hospital in New York City, when Whoopi was just eight years old.
In the book, Whoopi – whose real name is Caryn Johnson – describes the day she came home from school to find her mother looking “disheveled” and barefoot, “mumbling incoherently” and not knowing where she was.
She writes: ‘I saw her walk to the oven, turn it on and stick 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.”
Writing about her love life, the actress reveals: ‘I was married three times before I realized I was better off being alone full-time.’
About her second marriage to cameraman David Claessen, Whoopi adds: “When that marriage fell apart, I thought maybe I just wasn’t doing it right.”
She also remembers her mother advising her to “just have a party” after agreeing to wedding number three, and admits, “I should have listened to that sage advice, but I didn’t.”
Whoopi rarely goes into detail about her current love life, but she occasionally shares tidbits on The View and it’s certainly no secret that she likes to live alone with just her cat.