Whoopi Goldberg Said She’s Been Absent From “The View” Because She Almost Died From Pneumonia

I’m sure many regular watchers of The View are thankful that Whoopi Goldberg has been absent from her hosting duties for the past several weeks, because what we don’t need right now is Whoopi’s hot take on Michael Jackson considering how long it took her to come around on Cosby. But what we need even less is for Whoopi to die, which she almost did! Whoopi’s been out sick since February 6th, and in a video message that was played on the show today, she said that she’s been recovering from pneumonia, and that she almost died. As ridiculous as she is, Whoopi’s an icon who’s brought joy to millions, and we can’t afford to lose any more of those at this time.

Whoopi says she had pneumonia in both lungs, was septic, and “came very close to leaving the earth”. She’s still at home recovering, but sent in the video message as proof of life. According to People:

The star’s illness was first addressed during the Feb. 20 episode, as fans began to question where Goldberg was.

“She’s not feeling well,” Joy Behar said during the broadcast. “She’s actually recovering from pneumonia. I saw her last night and she’s very funny still, and we had big laughs. She’s getting there, she’s on the mend.”

Here’s Whoopi’s video message.

Damn, I didn’t think her voice could get any deeper!

As she said in the video, “even people who aren’t huge fans of mine have actually been saying nice things about me”, which is refreshing to hear. I think a lot of us have complicated feelings about Whoopi, but despite her utterly predictable tendency to cape for the wrong dudes, she gave us Sister Act, and for that, I will be forever grateful. Plus, she signed a coffee cup for me once when she was in town filming Made In America. I lost that cup in a move and I’m super bummed about it too since it was also signed by Will Smith and Ted Danson. That would have been money in the bank right now!

Pic: ABC via YouTube