NEW YORK, USA – Whoopi Goldberg has always valued saying everything that matters to the people she loves. This philosophy, which has guided her relationships, also shaped how she processed the loss of her mother, Emma Johnson, 14 years ago after she suffered a stroke.
In a recent conversation with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on his All There Is podcast, Goldberg opened up about her grief journey and how it has evolved over time.
Initially, she struggled to understand why she wasn’t more devastated by her mother’s death, she revealed.
But recently, Goldberg said she gained clarity.
“There was nothing left unsaid with us, so there was no angst to find,” she explained, reflecting on her close relationship with her mother.
“That thing that I’ve seen in movies where I see people go through, I didn’t go through it because my experience was, ‘you know I adored and loved you, and you were the center of my life.’”
Goldberg shared that she had the same relationship with her brother, Clyde Johnson, who passed away five years after their mother.
The loss of both her mother and brother left Goldberg feeling alone, an experience she said was unlike anything she had ever anticipated.
“I don’t think anything can prepare you for actually being on your own,” she told Cooper, noting the deep impact of her brother’s death.
Goldberg’s relationship with her mother shaped her understanding of life and loss. She recounted a pivotal moment from her childhood when her mother sought mental health treatment at Bellevue Hospital in New York.
Her mother’s temporary absence from their lives, and the fact that she didn’t initially recognize her children upon returning, taught Goldberg a valuable lesson.
“Nothing is forever,” she said, a realisation that influenced how she developed her outlook on life.
Even as a mother and grandmother, Goldberg admitted that after her brother’s death, she wrestled with feelings of deep loneliness.
The question, “why did you leave me? There were three of us,” echoed in her mind.
In her darkest moments, Goldberg revealed that she once contemplated leaving as well, but thoughts of her daughter kept her grounded.
Now, Goldberg is focused on finding joy despite her grief. She strives to honour her mother’s memory by embodying the qualities that made Emma Johnson a “beacon of light” in her life.
“If I can be half the person that she was, I will feel like I honoured her the way that I’d like to honour her,” she said.
In her candid conversation with Cooper, Goldberg demonstrated how grief can be complex and deeply personal while offering hope to those navigating similar experiences.
