Whoopi Goldberg tells Don Lemon why she’s happy single and prefers people to leave after sex

Whoopi Goldberg has a new memoir entitled, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me. She’s been promoting it with several interviews. This included sitting down with Don Lemon for a wide-ranging chat about her life and the contents of the book. Much of it concerns grief and losing loved ones. 

Lemon, 58, recently got married. He tied the knot with his partner, Tim Malone. This prompted him to ask Goldberg, 68—who is single—if she ever got lonely. 

“I don’t think so,” replied Goldberg. 

Lemon reminds Goldberg of previous comments she’s made to him about not believing marriage is for her. She has been married three times but each union ended in divorce. She’s also had several high-profile boyfriends, including the actors Frank Langella Jr and Ted Danson.

“The truth of the matter is, I am fundamentally a selfish person,” explains Goldberg. “Because I have a wonderful kid. And a son-in-law and three grandkids and one great grand[kid], that I don’t have time for a whole lot of other people. 

“Hit and runs are great,” she continues. “I don’t mind those. But you can’t spend the night.”

“I want to see you when I see you, and then you go”

Lemon laughs as he realizes what she means by “hit and runs”. 

“They still happen?” Lemon asks. 

“Oh yeah,” replies Goldberg, as they fist bump each other. 

“You have to give yourself permission because, you know, you have this whole line of words that are stacked up in your head about what you are if you say a ‘hit and run’ is where you want to be and you don’t want to be married. ‘Oh, am I a whore? Am I this? Am I a terrible person because I don’t want…?’ 

“And I never really thought about it. I just thought I must be doing it wrong. Cos other people seem to have been able to figure it out. And what I didn’t realize was that I had figured it out.

“I was just surprised that a) I didn’t really want it, but I like to hit and run. And my mother said well, maybe you should just throw a party and not get married anymore.”

They both agree that marriage is not for everybody.

“It requires a lot,” says Goldberg. “It really is a give and take. And I’m in my life, at this point, I don’t really want that. I want to see you when I see you, and then you go.”

You can watch the whole interview below. The discussion on loneliness and marriage is at the 30-minute mark. Elsewhere in their discussion, they talk about Goldberg’s childhood, her career, Star Trek, and recent weight loss. 

Gay father

Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson on November 13, 1955, in Manhattan. Her mom, Emma Johnson was a nurse and teacher, and her father, Robert James Johnson Jr., a Baptist clergyman.

In Bits and Pieces, Goldberg reveals that her estranged father was gay. She and her older brother grew up in the projects, raised by her mom after their father walked out. 

“My mother didn’t talk about the marriage ending because she stayed married to him until the day he passed, nor do I think she ever thought of it as a failure,” writes Goldberg. 

She adds, “It turns out that my dad was gay. Which couldn’t have been easy either.”

She says she later asked her mom how she knew her dad was gay, but the older woman wouldn’t go into details. She also had no interest in dating after they split as he was “the love of her life.”

Her father died in May 1993, reports the US Sun. 

Despite her many relationships with men, there have been rumors about Goldberg’s own sexuality. However, she recently again denied being a lesbian. 

Goldberg guested on Raven Symone’s ‘The Best Podcast Ever’. Symone told Goldberg she gave her “stud vibes” (stud typically being slang for a Black, masculine lesbian). 

“Women have been asking me this for as long as I’ve been around, I am not a lesbian,” replied Goldberg. “But I know lots of them, and I’ve played them on television.”