Whoopi Goldberg has contracted COVID-19 for the third time.
The 68-year-old star was absent from the season 27 premiere of “The View” on Tuesday, Sept. 5 with co-host Joy Behar explaining the Ghost actress had been forced to miss the show because she was unwell, but reassured viewers she is “on the mend” and likely to return to her seat on the show in a few days.
Behar, 80, said: “Thank you, this is the premiere show of our 27th year on the air. I was here for all of it, except for two, when they canned me. When they sacked my behind. As you can see, Whoopi is not here, she has COVID. 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 that were looking forward to seeing her.”
Goldberg previously missed several episodes of the daytime talk show in November last year due to COVID-19, and also contracted the virus in January 2022.
At the time of her first COVID-19 diagnosis, the Sister Act actress admitted it had come as a “shock” after being vaccinated and trying to keep safe.
She said at the time: “It was a shock because you know, I’m triple vaxxed, haven’t been anywhere, haven’t done anything, but that’s the thing about the Omicron. You just don’t know where it is. You don’t know where it is, who’s got it, who’s passing it. So you know, it’s one of those things where you think ‘I’ve done everything I was supposed to do.’ ”
The Hollywood star insisted she wasn’t worried about the long-term impact of COVID on her health, despite having battled pneumonia and sepsis a few years ago.
She said: “I just feel like you can only do what you can do and whatever your body decides [it’s] going to do is what you have to roll with.”
