Whoopi Goldberg Admits She's Thought About Leaving 'The View' 'All the Time'

Whoopi Goldberg is looking back on her long run at The View as the daytime talk show enters its milestone 30th season.

The moderator, 70, who joined the panel in 2007, opened up to People about what's kept her at the "Hot Topics" table for nearly two decades, admitting the decision to stay hasn't always been easy.

"I've thought about leaving all the time," she said, adding that it surprises even her that she's lasted as long as she has.

Goldberg was candid that the job has tested her over the years. She said she's often questioned whether she wanted to keep returning, but has ultimately chosen to remain at a table she never expected to occupy for this long. She traced the whole experience back to the late Barbara Walters, who created the show and personally recruited her.

"I needed a job desperately," she said. "I needed a job. And I’m just grateful. I’m grateful that Barbara plucked me when I needed to be plucked."

Walters, she recalled, made the moderator role sound simple.

"She said, 'Will you come and do this?' I said, ‘I don’t know how to do this.’ She said, 'It’ll be all right. You just do lead-ins," Goldberg said of Walters' job rundown. "It’s like, ‘Oh, okay.’ So I came, and then she gave me the job."

She described the late broadcaster as a lasting source of motivation.

A significant part of Goldberg's reflection on her job over the years with People centered on handling backlash, something the job has brought her repeatedly. She was suspended from the show for two weeks in 2022 after comments about the Holocaust that she later apologized for and clarified.

"One of the things that you have to know about this job, and it’s really hard, is that disagreement can come from anywhere, for any reason, and really nobody wants to hear your reasoning or your truth of why you thought this way," she said of the experience. "It’s just easier — people want to be mad, they’re mad."

Her advice to those angered by the show was simple: if it upsets them that much, they can just not watch.

"You have to learn that," she said. "You have to learn that that’s part of this. So now that I know that, it’s just kind of like, okay, well, listen, don’t watch. If you’re that mad, you don’t have to watch. Take a break."

The reflection also touched on a habit Goldberg introduced more recently. She revealed that she began adding a sign-off to episodes during the previous season, wanting to leave viewers with a small note of encouragement.

She described it as an attempt to remind the audience that they are not alone, a gesture that has become part of her role as moderator.

"I wanted to give people a little message of hope," she explained. "The topics we’re covering every day can be heavy and hopefully, this allows people at home to feel a little lighter."

The View kicked off its 30th season in September, a milestone that dates back to Walters' launch of the program in 1997. The returning panel includes Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin, Ana Navarro and Alyssa Farah Griffin, and the season is set to feature appearances from former co-hosts alongside other surprises.

Goldberg may miss some of those reunions. She has said she'll be stepping away for a stretch to film a movie with Jenifer Lewis and Vanessa Williams, and she remains attached to the long-discussed Sister Act 3, a project she has said is simply waiting on the right script.

For now, she's made clear she knows how fortunate she has been to hold the platform for as long as she has.