Whoopi Goldberg says dad made her mom get electroshock treatment: 'They just never mentioned it'
Goldberg recounts her relationship with her late mother, Emma, and brother, Clyde, in her new memoir.
Whoopi Goldberg's upcoming memoir Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me serves as an emotional tribute to her family, but joy doesn't come without painful memories, as the Oscar-winning actress revealed that the book contains difficult recollections of her father forcing her mother, Emma Johnson, to get electroshock treatment.
"There was a time in this country where your husband, your brother, or any man involved in your life could make medical decisions for you," Goldberg said Wednesday on The View. "My mother's father — my grandfather — and my dad, okay'ed it, that my mother get the shock treatment for two years."
The news stunned Goldberg's cohosts, who reacted in horror after the 68-year-old confirmed that her mother had difficulty remembering who she and her older brother, Clyde, were when she returned home from New York City's Bellevue facility following a two-year hospitalization for a breakdown. "My jaw hit the floor, that in your lifetime, that was still legal," Alyssa Farah Griffin said.
Goldberg also observed that, at that time, she was only 8 years old, and she just accepted that "things happened" and she didn't question it until later.
"For me, it was like, oh, they've taken her to this hospital and no one's going to tell me anything," Goldberg recalled. "They just never mentioned it. You didn't do that. We didn't know any better. Now, we discuss everything with children, and maybe that's not the greatest thing. I had to deal with this with my daughter, because when I got famous, I didn't realize that I, too, was leaving her."
Goldberg previously discussed her memoir as a portrait of grief, after Emma and Clyde died in 2010 and 2015, respectively.
Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty
Whoopi Goldberg and her mother, Emma Johnson"The thing about grief, I say it in the book, you have to understand, people don't know what to say. They don't know how to respond. My mom passed, and I'd get really annoyed with people, thinking, why are you asking this question? What do you mean, 'How do I feel?'" the Ghost star said. "Then, I realized, they haven't had the experience, so they don't know. You can't be pissed at people because they're trying to be kind."
Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me releases on May 7. Watch Goldberg discuss her mother getting electroshock treatment above.
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