Whoopi Goldberg Recalls Maggie Smith Supporting Following Mother’s Illness

Whoopi Goldberg took a moment this week to spotlight her friendship with Maggie Smith, remembering a time when the British actress offered support amid news that Goldberg’s mother’s health had taken a turn for the worse.

Goldberg told People she was in performing in the stage adaptation of Sister Act in London when her late brother, Clyde K. Johnson, called to tell her their mother was on life support following an aneurysm. Smith, who co-starred with Goldberg in the Sister Act films, happened to be visiting the production that day.

“Having Maggie Smith be there, and being able to fall apart and having her say, ‘Listen, my friend. We’ll get you through this. We’ll get you through this. We’ll get you to the hospital so you can get her. Get you back to Berkeley so you can get home,’” Goldberg said.

Goldberg said that Smith stayed with her while she waited for her flight back to California.

“We were up all night, just laughing and talking about stuff,” the The View co-host said. “And she had met my mom a couple of times. Just having somebody who got it, who understood, it’s everything.”

Goldberg’s mother, Emma Harris, passed away in 2020. Her brother died in 2015. She writes about both in her new memoir, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me, out now.

The new interview is not the first time Goldberg has opened up about emotional turmoil regarding her mother. Last week, she revealed her mother forgot who she was after undergoing electroshock therapy during a two-year hospitalization that occurred when Goldberg was in elementary school.

“My mother at one point when I got older … said, ‘Can I tell you a secret?’ I was like, ‘Sure,’” the actress told People. “She said, ‘I didn’t know who you were when I got out of the hospital.’ It’s like, ‘I’m sorry, what? I’m sorry, what?’ She said, ‘Yeah, I had no idea who you were. I just knew I never wanted to go back to that hospital. So I had to do everything I could. If they said the sky was green, and I could see it wasn’t green, and it was blue, I’d say, ‘Yes, the sky is green.’ ‘Cause I never wanted it again.’”