NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 10: Whoopi Goldberg attends Shorts: Animated Shorts Curated by Whoopi G during the 2023 Tribeca Festival at AMC 19th Street on June 10, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival)
Fans of The View were shocked to see that Whoopi Goldberg was missing from the show’s season 27 premiere. Joy Behar shared details about her costar’s condition and expected return back to TV after contracting COVID-19.
Where Is Whoopi Goldberg on ‘The View’?
At the top of the hour on September 5, Joy addressed Whoopi’s absence after the series returned from its summer hiatus.
“As you can see, Whoopi is not here. She has COVID,” Joy explained. “Yes, it’s back. It’s back! But she’s on the mend. She’s on the tail end and she’ll probably be back this week. But sorry she’s not here, for those of you who were looking forward to seeing her.”
Whoopi did not immediately address her illness on her social media accounts. This wasn’t the first time the Sister Act actress was forced to miss the talk show due to COVID-19. She contracted the virus in January 2022 and again in November 2022.
“It was a shock because I’m triple vaxxed, I haven’t been anywhere, I haven’t done anything,” she said at the start of 2022 after falling ill. “It’s one of those things where you think, ‘I’ve done everything I was supposed to do.’ Yeah, it doesn’t stop omicron.”
Whoopi Goldberg Recently Hinted at a New Project in the Works
One week prior to her absence from the season premiere of The View, the EGOT winner was spotted out in Italy with film producer Roberto Cipullo.
“And then when you’re finishing dinner with a Hollywood legend, a world music giant arrives and the evening becomes surreal,” his caption on an August 29 Instagram photo with Whoopi said. “In Montecassiano, in the heart of Marche. Wonderful. And tomorrow it begins.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 01: Whoopi Goldberg speaks onstage during the "Till" world premiere Q & A during the 60th New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on October 01, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for FLC)Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for FLC
Fans also captured videos of Whoopi as she walked along the streets in a purple outfit, but she did not reveal any details about what project she was working on at the time. For many years, Whoopi has been teasing Sister Act 3, the third installment of her widely successful film series. The movie currently has a projected August 2024 release date, per IMDb.
“The script came in yesterday,” Whoopi said during a November 2022 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “I really like it, you know, but it has a whole lot of adults to go through. If they don’t get in its way, it could be pretty good.”