‘The View’: Whoopi Goldberg Reveals Her Mom Got Shock Treatments For Two Years After “Nervous Breakdown” And Couldn’t Remember Her Or Her Brother

Whoopi Goldberg opened up to her co-hosts during an intimate conversation on this morning’s episode of The View about her childhood and her family.

The longtime moderator was the one sitting in the hot seat today as she promoted her upcoming memoir, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, And Me. Goldberg fully committed, even emerging from backstage for her interview as View guests typically do.

Once she was seated at the table again, Goldberg didn’t waste any time opening up, sharing information even her co-hosts never knew about her.

While Goldberg said she was lucky to have a mother who exposed her to arts and culture and wanted her and her brother to “be filled with wonder,” she also detailed some of the hardships her mom suffered while she was young.

After Joy Behar asked about the passage in Goldberg’s book in which she writes about her mother’s “nervous breakdown,” The View moderator explained what happened and how the incident affected her.

Goldberg said she “must have been around eight,” when her mother was taken to the hospital, while her brother, Clyde, was in his teens. While Goldberg’s mother was hospitalized for her mental health struggles, she said her dad and her aunt took care of her and Clyde.

(Editor’s Note: The View is on hiatus today; contrary to what you may have heard, The View was not canceled today. This article was originally published on May 1, 2024 when this episode first aired. The View will return with new episodes tomorrow.)

“You know, in those days, kids were told nothing. Parents just disappeared,” Goldberg said. “Things happened, and for me, it was really kind of like, oh, so they’ve taken her to this hospital and nobody is gonna tell me anything and I can’t go see her.”

When Sunny Hostin asked, “They didn’t even tell you, ‘She’s getting better,’ nothing?” Goldberg replied, “No. They just never mentioned it.”

Goldberg also told her co-hosts that her mother didn’t remember her or her brother after her hospitalization because she had undergone “shock treatments.”

“There was a time in this country where your husband or your brother or any man involved in your life could make medical decisions for you, so my mother’s father — my grandfather — and my dad OK’d it. They OK’d that my mother get the shock treatment for two years,” she said.

The View airs weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.