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Whoopi Goldberg’s mom forgot her children after undergoing electroshock therapy

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Whoopi Goldberg’s mom was hospitalized for two years during the “View” co-host’s childhood — and lost memories after undergoing electroshock therapy.

EMMA Harris didn’t tell Goldberg that she forgot who her children were at the time, waiting 40 years to share the “secret” with her daughter.

“She said, ‘I didn’t know who you were when I got out of the hospital,’” Goldberg, 68, writes in her forthcoming memoir, “Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother and Me,” per an excerpt obtained by People Thursday.

Whoopi Goldberg and Emma Harris
Whoopi Goldberg’s mom forgot her kids after electroshock therapy. whoopigoldberg/Instagram
Whoopi Goldberg
The “View” co-host’s grandfather and father “OK’d” the treatment. Sherly Rabbani/Shutterstock
Whoopi Goldberg
Her mom spent two years in a hospital. ABC

At the time, the EGOT winner replied, “I’m sorry, what? I’m sorry, what?”

Harris then explained, “Yeah, I had no idea who you were. I just knew I never wanted to go back to that hospital. So I had to do everything I could.

“If they said the sky was green, and I could see it wasn’t green, and it was blue, I’d say, “Yes, the sky is green.” ‘Cause I never wanted it again,’” she continued.

Whoopi Goldberg
She told Goldberg her “secret” 40 years later. Bruce Glikas/WireImage
Whoopi Goldberg and brother Clyde
Harris forgot both Goldberg and her brother, Clyde K. Johnson. whoopigoldberg/Instagram

Goldberg opened up more about the experience on “The View” Wednesday, saying her grandfather and father “OK’d that [her] mother get the shock treatment for two years” because “there was a time in this country when … any man involved in your life could make medical decisions for you.”

Sara Haines and Sunny Hostin expressed their “shock” that such treatment was used in Goldberg’s lifetime.

The actress’ memoir hits bookshelves next Tuesday.

Whoopi Goldberg and Emma Harris
The EGOT winner spoke to her co-hosts about that moment on “The View” Wednesday. whoopigoldberg/Instagram
Whoopi Goldberg
She details the experience in her upcoming memoir. whoopigoldberg/Instagram

Goldberg penned her story after Harris and her brother, Clyde K. Johnson, died in 2010 and 2015, respectively.

“They’ve been gone awhile now … so I think I just was starting to forget a lot of stuff,” she explained to viewers of her timing. “Everyone’s gone, and so I have memories of things that happened, but I don’t have specific dates or times.”

The “Sister Act” star joked that the book’s events “may or may not have happened exactly” as she describes.

Whoopi Goldberg
“Bits and Pieces” hits shelves next Tuesday. Amazon/Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg and brother Clyde
The book also dives into the actress’s relationship with Johnson, who died in 2015.

Joy Behar noted that memoirs do not necessarily have to be “factual” as much as “true.”

Harris died after suffering a stroke, with Johnson dying five years later from a brain aneurysm.

On her 68th birthday in November 2023, Goldberg said on “The View” that she felt “lucky” to have “outlived” her sibling.

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