Whoopi Goldberg Reveals How She Really Got Her Stage Name – Hollywood Life

View gallery

Whoopi Goldberg is able to shine a light-weight on how she got her stage name. In her latest memoir titled Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother and Me, The View cohost recalled the moment she didn’t need to be called her birth name, Caryn Johnson.

“Once I began getting parts in plays, I wanted a reputation that sounded more interesting,” Whoopi wrote in her book via Us Weekly. “Caryn Johnson wasn’t it.”

While working at various stage shows, Whoopi said that some people began calling her “Whoopi” because she “would sometimes set free with a fart. I added ‘Cushione’ to it — with a French pronunciation.”

When her first review was published, Whoopi faced some questions from her mother, Emma Harris, in regards to the name change. “After we talked on the phone, she said, ‘What is that this Whoopi Cushione?’” Whoopi recalled. “Well, it’s form of my nickname. It’s like whoopee cushion with somewhat French accent.”

“I explained to her the entire farting thing,” Whoopi continued in her book. “‘Well, in case you’re going to vary your name and wish people to take you seriously, you would like a more substantial name,’ my mother advised me. I said, ‘Oh, really, great namer of the celebrities? What do you think that it needs to be?’ She said, ‘Well, it is best to take considered one of the names from the family tree. How about Goldberg? That has a pleasant ring to it.’ That became my name.”

From that time on, “only my family and just a few individuals who knew me early in my life still called me Caryn.”

Back in January 2024, Whoopi first announced her newest book project would honor her late mother and late brother Clyde K. Johnson. “This book is devoted to my mother and my brother and our time together as a small, funny little unit,” she told People on the time. “It’s dedicated to anyone who’s found themselves on a scary path not of their selecting or coping with loss.”

Whoopi’s mother died in 2010 after suffering a stroke. She was 78. Five years later, the actress mourned the death of her brother, who suffered a brain aneurysm on the age of 65.

“This book is devoted to everyone who’s just attempting to determine the small stuff,” Whoopi added, “in addition to the stuff where you could have to be greater than you thought you could possibly be and it’s dedicated to like.”

Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me is offered now.