Whoopi Goldberg is honoring her late mother and brother with her new memoir, Bits & Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me.
“This book is dedicated to my mother and my brother and our time together as a small, funny little unit,” Goldberg, 68, told People in an interview published on Friday, January 26. “It’s dedicated to anyone who’s found themselves on a scary path not of their choosing or dealing with loss.”
The View host’s new memoir will also be a “semi-autobiographical” chronicle of her life growing up in the Chelsea district of New York City with her late mother, Emma Harris, and her older brother, Clyde K. Johnson.
Goldberg’s mother passed away at the age of 78 in 2010 after suffering from a stroke while her brother died from a brain aneurysm in 2015 at the age of 65.
“This book is dedicated to everyone who is just trying to figure out the small stuff as well as the stuff where you have to be more than you thought you could be and it’s dedicated to love,” Goldberg shared.
Goldberg has previously been open about dealing with both losses.
On a Thursday, January 25, episode of The View, Goldberg offered advice on how to deal with grief while talking to ten-year-old guest Israel. (Israel’s mother Ajike Owens was shot in June 2023 amid a confrontation that reportedly occurred after a white neighbor allegedly threw an object at a Black child.)
“I think you get comfortable with it,” Goldberg explained to Israel at the time. “You don’t need to get over anything. You know what it does? It evolves. It doesn’t ever quite go away. You learn to move with it, and this idea that you’re sitting there chewing bubblegum and blowing bubbles and crying at the same time. This still happens to me. So we all find ourselves, and you will find yourself in this. It’s not always easy, and it’s not always fun, but you’re not alone.”
In November 2023, Goldberg also paid tribute to her late brother while celebrating her 68th birthday on an episode of The View.
“I feel lucky to have lived to this age,” she shared. “I outlived my brother — I’m older than my brother was — and I just feel like I should celebrate and have a good time for all those folks who didn’t get to get here.”
Bits & Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me is set to hit bookstores on May 7, 2024.
