The View has experienced a slew of hosting shake-ups in its 22 years on the air, with Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg as the current vets around the table. Unfortunately, Goldberg has been absent for a while, without a whole lot of details to look to for an explanation. However, we now know that the opinionated comedian was dealing with pneumonia, and it was apparently a scarier ordeal than what fans might have expected.
On this morning's episode of The View, Joy Behar introduced a video recording that Whoopi Goldberg made for to give the show's fans a better idea of what she's gone through recently. In her words:
It’s me. I am here. I am up and moving around — not as fast as I’d like to be – but I’m OK. I’m not dead. Here’s what happened: I had pneumonia, and I was septic. Pneumonia in both lungs, which meant there was fluid. There was all kinds of stuff going on, and yes, I came very, very close to leaving the earth. Good news: I didn’t.
Whoa! It was more or less expected for Whoopi Goldberg to talk about feeling under the weather in recent weeks, as opposed to something more fantastically scandalous, but I doubt that many fans anticipated her explanation to involve a near-death scare.
Getting pneumonia is an awful experience in any capacity, since it can lead to a bunch of other health issues without leaving a clear avenue back to feeling better again. In Whoopi Goldberg's case, the illness made her septic, which was likely calamitous for her various organs, and she had fluids backing up in her lungs, which is extremely dangerous for various reasons.
Thankfully, the View host was able to make it through the worst moments of her pneumonia scare without suffering any permanent or fatal effects. We've already gotten reports of several entertainers' deaths in recent weeks, including Riverdale's Luke Perry, Airwolf vet Jan Michael Vincent, Who's the Boss's Katherine Helmond and more.
Whoopi Goldberg, who will reportedly be absent from the upcoming sequel Sister Act 3, spoke more during her video announcement, showing appreciation to her coworkers and the show's fans for being so supportive during her time away from the table.
Thank you for all your good wishes, all of the wonderful things people have been saying. Even people who are not huge fans of mine have actually said nice things about me. We all know that’s going to change when I get back, but for right now, it’s brilliant. Thank you for everything. Ladies, I cannot wait to see y’all. This has been interesting, and I’ll tell you about it when we’re all at the table.
Here's hoping Whoopi Goldberg gets healthy with the quickness. Not that The View is lacking in big conversations and headline-making moments. This week has seen co-host Meghan McCain voicing much criticism directed at Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, both on the air and off.
You can check out Whoopi's message in the video below.
The View airs weekday mornings at 11:00 a.m. ET.
