Whoopi Goldberg Reflects on Mental Health Struggle Following the Death of Her Mom and Brother

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg is getting candid about her difficult journey dealing with grief.

The actress and The View co-host opened up in a vulnerable new interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, where she reflected on a time in her life when she was struggling with her mental health.

While speaking to Cooper on a his All There Is podcast, Goldberg, 68, was asked about an excerpt from her upcoming memoir, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother and Me, where she talks about losing both her mom and her brother, and how the grief made her question the purpose of her own life.

"I once flirted with thinking about leaving," the Sister Act star emotionally admitted, seemingly hinting at previous thoughts of suicide.

Goldberg's mother, Emma Harris Johnson, died in 2010 as the result of a stroke, and her brother died just five years later after suffering a brain aneurysm in 2015 at the age of 65.

But despite her profound grief, Goldberg, fortunately, said she was able to realize that it wasn't her time.

"And then I thought, 'How? What a terrible thing that would be to do to my kid, to knowingly do to my kid who actually likes me,'" she remembered thinking.

Goldberg is a mom to 51-year-old daughter Alex Martin, who has three children of her own with husband Bernard Dean.

"She's a really good person and a fine woman," Goldberg said of her daughter, adding that she has raised "three fine, very bizarre" children with Dean.

"Why would you leave them with that?" she wondered, adding that she ultimately "decided not to" take her own life.

Cooper said he was "glad" she came to that decision, and Goldberg herself said, "Me too."

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

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