Whoopi Goldberg Memoir Tells ‘Interesting’ Story Behind Stage Name

The story at the rear of Whoopi Goldberg’s identify arrived straight from a actual-lifetime knowledge.

“Once I started off having elements in plays, I wanted a title that sounded a lot more intriguing. Caryn Johnson was not it,” Goldberg, 68, wrote in reference to her true name in her memoir, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me, produced on Tuesday, Could 7.

Although she was doing work at numerous stage exhibits, some people today commenced contacting her “Whoopi” for the reason that she “would in some cases let free with a fart,” The Check out star admitted. “I added ‘Cushione’ to it — with a French pronunciation.”

When her first review was created by journalist Welton Jones, the actress recalled her mom, Emma Harris, questioning the identify adjust.

“When we talked on the phone, she said, ‘What is this Whoopi Cushione?’” Goldberg wrote. She answered her mother, stating: “Well, it’s type of my nickname. It’s like whoopee cushion with a minor French accent.”

Her mother ongoing questioning the identify — before coming up with a greater concept.

“I defined to her the total farting detail. ‘Well, if you are heading to alter your identify and want men and women to take you very seriously, you will need a much more significant title,’ my mom recommended me,” Goldberg recalled. “I reported, ‘Oh, truly, terrific namer of the stars? What do you consider it should really be?’ She mentioned, ‘Well, you should consider just one of the names from the family tree. How about Goldberg? That has a wonderful ring to it.’ That became my title.”

From that stage on, “only my loved ones and a few folks who understood me early in my lifetime still termed me Caryn,” she wrote.

Goldberg’s memoir is devoted to her mother and brother, Clyde K. Johnson, both equally of whom have passed away. Harris died at age 78 in 2010 following a stroke even though Johnson died at age 65 in 2015.

“It’s time for a reserve about my nucleus family: my brother, Clyde, and specially about my mother, for the reason that none of the other things would have happened for me with out her,” Goldberg wrote in the Bits and Items introduction. She went on to even more detail her childhood.

“It wasn’t till I was more mature that I definitely recognized what my mom experienced to go by means of to maintain a roof over our heads. My father and mom had separated, so I did not improve up with him,” Goldberg recalled. “She tried out to get him to pay back some assistance by the courts, but assisting Black ladies dwelling in the assignments wasn’t superior on the point out court’s priority list, and she couldn’t afford a lawyer who could have gotten one thing performed.”

She wrote that her mom “refused to implement for welfare” due to the fact she “didn’t like the stigma.”

“I saw her cry at the time or 2 times about currently being unable to pay her taxes,” Goldberg added. “But as a kid, I under no circumstances grasped that we have been constantly a single paycheck away from the worst-scenario situation.”