Benjamin Jones
After more than four decades of career, Whoopi Goldberg is sharing her story on her own terms. The EGOT winner joined “CBS Mornings” to discuss her new memoir, “Bits and Pieces,” which delves into her career, life and relationships with her late mother, Emma Johnson, and her late brother, Clyde Johnson.
Goldberg credits his family for his success. She remembered her mother’s advice mentioned in her memoir: cry for what you don’t have or find out and then move on.
“That’s how I live my life, you know,” Goldberg said of his mother’s advice. “If something isn’t working out or I stepped on something, I’m not going to cry about it. I just have to say, ‘Yes, I did’ and move on, because all that wasted time of ‘Oh, no,’ is like a tick-tok, baby. You don’t have much time left.”
Goldberg, who grew up in a New York City housing project, said her mother was “interested in everything,” which allowed Goldberg to explore the world as a child.
“She, I think, always felt that if she could put ourselves out there, we could find different things for ourselves,” she said.
Reflecting on his career, from working with director Steven Spielberg to starring in “The Color Purple,” Goldberg expressed surprise at how quickly four decades had passed.
“To me, it still feels like yesterday,” she said. “It still feels very fresh, all of it.”
Goldberg said directors Mike Nichols and Spielberg changed her life by bringing her into show business and showing her that talent will take you far — no matter what.
“You may not like me, but you can’t deny what I can do,” Goldberg said. “And that’s what I get to walk in my truth every day. I’m good at what I do. I am, regardless of whether you think I’m cute or sexy, whatever, it doesn’t matter. You can’t do what I can do.” “
She said that early in her career Hollywood was trying to turn Goldberg into “a female version of Eddie Murphy”. She said that most of her first films were hits on HBO, but did not do well in theaters. It wasn’t until 1991, when she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in the film “Ghost,” that she said she felt truly accepted in Hollywood.
The memoir also openly addresses Goldberg’s past struggles with cocaine addiction and his choice to quit smoking.
“You have to make a decision,” Goldberg said. “Do you want to live in a closet, at the back of a closet? When the housekeeper comes in, she screams, you scream, and you think, is this the rest of my life? ? If the answer is no, leave right now.”
