Whoopi Goldberg revealed she has a secret — and very clever — way to track down who’s spreading gossip among her pals.
When The View cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin said she enjoys trying to “catch a gossip” by planting “false information” and seeing “if it makes its way around,” Goldberg, 68, confessed she had also tried that tactic in the past.
“We have done that, we have done that,” Goldberg said on the Thursday, February 29, episode, while looking at cohost Joy Behar. “We did that to see who was talking. Yeah.”
While initially reacting with confusion, Behar, 81, replied, “Oh,” while cohost Sunny Hostin quipped, “Now, you see, that’s a little bit of gossip I would like to know about.”
While Goldberg may be keen to learn who’s the biggest gossip of the bunch, she previously said she’s just fine being left out of a group chat with her cohosts.
During a January 2024 episode of the ABC talk show, Farah Griffin, 34, asked whether there’s a text chain she’s not included in. Hostin, 55, admitted there had been one in the past but noted that Goldberg would “gladly” give up her spot for Farah Griffin.
“I feel like Michael Corleone, because I take myself off the group texts,” Goldberg quipped in response, to which Hostin replied, “And Joy puts you right back on.”
Despite cohost Ana Navarro saying that Goldberg should silence her notifications rather than just removing herself from the chat, Goldberg remained firm with her stance.
“Silencing y’all does not mean being part of it,” she said. “I don’t care. I don’t care what you’re upset about. It’s the weekend!”
When Navarro pointed out that there can be miscommunication — including someone accidentally texting the wrong person — when there’s not a large group chat, Goldberg replied, “See, that’s why I’m not on all of that stuff because I know who I’m texting.”
“If I need to talk to you, I’ll talk to you,” Goldberg concluded. “I communicate when I have something to say. I don’t just be sending y’all stuff. I’m busy.”
When Goldberg’s not trying to catch the gossiper — or avoid being placed in a text chain — she’s getting ready to launch her memoir, Bits & Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me, which will hit shelves in May.
The memoir, which honors her late mother and brother, will be “semi-autobiographical and chronicle her life growing up in New York City. (Goldberg’s mother, Emma Harris, died at the age of 78 in 2010 after suffering a stroke, while her brother, Clyde K. Johnson, died at the age of 65 in 2015 of a brain aneurysm.)
“This book is dedicated to my mother and my brother and our time together as a small, funny little unit,” Goldberg told People in January. “It’s dedicated to anyone who’s found themselves on a scary path not of their choosing or dealing with loss.”
The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
