How much is Whoopi Goldberg’s net worth? The View host says she’s having a “hard time” financially

In an effort to connect with 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 on a recent episode of the popular daytime talk show that she can’t afford to stop working. “I appreciate that people are having a hard time. Me too. I work to make a living,” Goldberg said on 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-granddaughter has to be fed by her family. “I know it’s hard out there,” he said Sister law Star added.

Goldberg – who rose to fame as a comedian in the 1980s before landing breakthrough roles in both film and Broadway – hosted The view since 2007. While she has established herself as one of the most prominent figures on television, Goldberg’s professional achievements extend 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 EGOT.

The New York native, born Caryn Elaine Johnson in 1955, came from a humble background. 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 Chelsea-Elliot Houses public housing project in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.

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

There, director Mike Nichols discovered Goldberg and became the comedian’s mentor as she developed her show for Broadway. The show, renamed to Whoopi Goldbergran from October 1984 to March 1985. According to Broadway World, the show grossed $1,973,901 in 156 performances. Her show was also taped for an HBO special titled Whoopi Goldberg: Straight from Broadwayfor which Goldberg is credited as a producer through her company Whoop Inc.

The audio recording of Goldberg’s one-woman show earned her the 1986 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album, the first black comedian to win the award. While Goldberg continued to star A funny thing happened on the way to the forum In 1996, her theater career expanded far beyond acting. In 2002 she won the Tony Award for producing the musical Thoroughly modern Milliea Broadway hit that reportedly made back around 80 percent of its $9.5 million capitalization during its two-year run.

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

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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 The Movie Spirit. Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze’s classic became the highest-grossing film of the year, grossing more than $505 million worldwide.

Perhaps one of her best-known roles is Deloris Van Cartier in the 1992 musical comedy, a lounge singer who goes undercover as a nun on the run from the mafia Sister law. The film grossed $139.6 million at the US box office and grossed $231.6 million worldwide. In 1993 Sister law was named the most rented film nationwide.

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The film even spawned a successful franchise, allowing Goldberg to negotiate a salary Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit An estimated $7 million to $12 million – making Goldberg the highest-paid actress in Hollywood at the time. The sequel grossed approximately $60 million in the United States and nearly $100 million worldwide.

During the 1990s to 2000s, Goldberg appeared in films several times, most notably as the voice actor of the hyena Shenzi 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 in five seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generationstarred with Jean Stapleton in Baghdad Cafeand hosted her own syndicated late night talk show, The Whoopi Goldberg Show.

In 2007, Goldberg joined The view as a moderator and panelist alongside creator Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. In a 2016 report by diversityThe value of Goldberg’s one-year contract was estimated at $5 million to $6 million.

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

After moving to California in the 1980s, Goldberg purchased a Victorian-style home built in the 1890s for just $335,000. In 2015, she sold the two-story home 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 selling the five-bedroom home for $8.8 million in February 2018. She also purchased a rustic vacation home in Vermont in 2003 for $950,000. Goldberg reportedly listed the historic property for $1.5 million in November 2012.

After she got her gig The viewGoldberg moved back to New York City, where she bought a full-floor loft in SoHo for $4 million. She sold the two-bedroom apartment in 2010 for just under $3 million. Looking for more privacy, Goldberg moved to suburban New Jersey and bought a mansion in the Llewellyn Park gated community for $2.8 million.

Goldberg was married three times. Her first marriage was to drug counselor Alvin Martin in 1973, but they parted ways in 1979. She was later married to cinematographer David Claessen from 1986 to 1988 and tied the knot with union organizer Lyle Trachtenberg in 1994, although their union lasted only a single 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 actress and producer, has now given the actor three grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.

Earlier this year, Goldberg shared the news with her now 50-year-old daughter on a May episode of Everything The view.

“One of the great answers is that children learn from what they see,” Goldberg said at the time. “My mom worked her butt off and that’s why I feel the way I feel and I’m leaving everything I have to my child.”