What is Whoopi Goldberg Net Worth? The View host says she is ‘struggling’ financially

In an attempt to relate to working-class Americans, Whoopi Goldberg has revealed that she too struggles with money.

The 69-year-old Oscar winner and co-host of ABC’sThe view admitted during a recent episode of the popular daytime talk show that she can’t afford to stop working. “I appreciate that people have a hard time. Me too. I work for a living, Goldberg said Tuesday (Nov. 12). “If I had all the money in the world, I wouldn’t be here, okay? So I’m a working person, you know?”

“My child has to feed his family. My great-grandson has to be fed by his family. I know it’s hard out there,” the Sister law star added.

Goldberg – who rose to fame in the 1980s as a comedian before landing breakthrough roles in both film and on Broadway – has hosted The view since 2007. While she has cemented herself as one of the most prominent figures in television, Goldberg’s career successes span far beyond the daytime talk show. In fact, she is one of the few recipients of an Emmy Award, Grammy Award, Academy Award and Tony Award – collectively known as the EGOT.

The New York native, born in 1955 as Caryn Elaine Johnson, came from humble beginnings. Her mother, Emma Johnson, was a nurse and teacher, while her father, Robert James Johnson Jr., was a Baptist minister. She grew up in the public housing project Chelsea-Elliot Houses in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea.

After dropping out of high school at 17, Goldberg moved to California in the 1970s, where she worked odd jobs such as a waitress, bank teller, bricklayer and a mortuary cosmetologist. While living in Berkeley, she joined the city’s oldest theater troupe, the Blake Street Hawkeyes, and developed her one-woman show from 1983, The Spook Show.

It was there that director Mike Nichols discovered Goldberg and mentored the comedian as they developed her show for Broadway. The show, rightfully so Whoopi Goldbergran from October 1984 to March 1985. According Broadway Worldthe show earned $1,973,901 over its 156 performances. Her show was also filmed for an HBO special titled Whoopi Goldberg: Direct from Broadwayfor which Goldberg was credited as a producer through his company, Whoop Inc.

The recording of Goldberg’s one-woman show earned her a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in 1986, the first black female comedian to win the accolade. While Goldberg continued to play along A funny thing happened on the way to the forum in 1996, her theater career has since gone far beyond acting. In 2002, she won the Tony Award for producing the musical Completely modern Milliea Broadway smash hit it reportedly made back about 80 percent of its $9.5 million capitalization during its two-year term.

While Goldberg got her start on the stage, she has since become one of the most prolific on-screen actors of all time. While performing her one-woman Broadway show, she caught the attention of filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who offered her the lead role of Celie in the 1985s The color Purple – her film debut. The color Purplebased on the novel by Alice Walker, became a critical and commercial success, grossing more than $98.4 million at the worldwide box office. The film was nominated for 11 Oscars, including a nomination for Goldberg as Best Actress. She ultimately won the Golden Globe for her role as Celie, again becoming the first black woman to win the category.

Goldberg made history again in 1990 when she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as psychic Oda Mae Brown in Ghost. The Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze classic became the highest-grossing film of the year, earning more than $505 million worldwide.

Perhaps one of her best-known roles is Deloris Van Cartier, a lounge singer who goes undercover as a nun to escape the mob, in the 1992 musical comedy Sister law. The film grossed $139.6 million at the US box office and grossed $231.6 million worldwide. In 1993, Sister law was voted the most rented film in the entire country.

The film even spawned a successful franchise, so much so that Goldberg was able to negotiate another salary Sister Act 2: Back in the habit between an estimated $7m and $12m – making Goldberg the highest-paid actress in Hollywood at the time. The sequel grossed around $60 million in the US and nearly $100 million worldwide.

Throughout the 1990s through the 2000s, Goldberg made numerous film appearances, most notably voicing Shenzi the hyena in Disney’s 1994 animated classic The Lion King – the third-highest-grossing animated film in history, grossing $968.5 million worldwide.

On television, Goldberg appeared for five seasons Star Trek: The Next Generationco-starred with Jean Stapleton in Baghdad Cafeand hosted his own syndicated late-night talk show, The Whoopi Goldberg Show.

In 2007, Goldberg joined The view as moderator and panelist alongside creator Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. In a 2016 report from BlackGoldberg’s one-year contract was estimated to be worth between $5m-$6m.

In addition to his role as an entertainer, Goldberg has also made a fortune as an entrepreneur. In 2022, she launched her brand of cannabis products, Emma & Clyde, named after her late mother and brother. She also co-founded a line of holistic menstrual relief products, Whoopi & Maya, in 2016, though it ceased operations four years later. After parting ways with a former business partner, Goldberg announced in July 2024 that Whoopi & Maya were revived under her WhoopFam company.

After her move to California in the 1980s, Goldberg bought a Victorian-style house built in the 1890s for just $335,000. In 2015, she has sold the two-story residence for $1.275 million after owning it for 30 years. Goldberg then moved to the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, where she lived for another two decades before that is selling the five-bedroom home for $8.8 million in February 2018. She too bought a rustic vacation home in Vermont in 2003 for $950,000. Goldberg reportedly listed the historic property in November 2012 for $1.5 million.

After landing her gig on The viewGoldberg moved back to New York City, where she bought a loft in SoHo for $4 million. She sold the 2-room apartment in 2010 for just under 3 million In search of more privacy, Goldberg moved to the New Jersey suburbs and bought a $2.8 million mansion in the gated community of Llewellyn Park.

Goldberg has been married three times. Her first marriage was in 1973 to drug counselor Alvin Martin, although they separated in 1979. She later married cinematographer David Claessen from 1986 to 1988, and tied the knot with union organizer Lyle Trachtenberg in 1994, although their union only lasted one year .

She welcomed her only child, daughter Alexandrea Martin, with her first husband in 1974, when she was just 18 years old. Goldberg’s daughter, who also became an actor and producer, has since given the actor three grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

Earlier this year, Goldberg shared that she will bequeath “everything” to his now 50-year-old daughter during a May episode of The view.

“One of the good answers is that kids learn from what they see,” Goldberg said at the time. “My mom got her back, and that’s why I feel the way I do, and I’m leaving my child everything I have.”