Whoopi Goldberg is clarifying that she is “not a lesbian” despite her former View co-host Raven-Symoné recalling her giving off “lesbian vibes” during their time on the ABC talk show.
On the latest episode of iHeartMedia’s The Best Podcast Ever with Raven and Miranda, the 37-year-old Disney Channel alum told Goldberg, 67, that she wanted to “dig into your business a little bit.”
“Honestly, when I was around you, I loved you so much, like I just wanted to be up underneath the t—- the whole time,” Symoné admitted. “But that’s also because you just kind of gave me lesbian vibes!’”
Symoné — who co-hosted The View from June 2015 to October 2016 — added, “You give me lesbian vibes, you give me stud vibes.”Symoné’s wife and podcast co-host Miranda Maday responded, “I think this is a secret fantasy of Raven’s. I think she just wants everybody to be gay and she’s just really hoping you’ll come out right here, right now.’”
The That’s So Raven alum agreed and added, “So if you want to tell us anything, Whoops, you’re more than welcome to!”
Goldberg then opened up about the common misconception about her sexuality, sharing, “Women have been asking me this for as long as I’ve been around. I am not a lesbian. But I know lots of them, and I’ve played them on television.”
“But I have always had lesbian friends because they’re just my friends,’” she continued.
Goldberg went to detail her own boundaries with her pals, saying, “I’m not gonna kiss you, but I’ll kiss you over here, I’ll do this but I’m not going to do this… And they’re like, ‘OK!’”
Symoné applauded her former costar for openness and how she presents herself.
“Which makes me happy because I can also say, to all those people who judge the lesbian community or the gay community,” she said. “There is something beautiful about a woman being able to embrace their masculine and feminine at the same time and wear it so well, like you do.”
“It’s fantastic, you’re not either one or the other, you’re just a human living in your body and doesn’t really correlate to sexual orientation or any of that,” she continued. “It’s just the way you present and it’s so warming… You live in this duality so well, and I just want to applaud you for that.”The EGOT winner has been married three times. At 18 years old, Goldberg wed her drug counselor Alvin Martin in 1973. The couple welcomed a daughter, Alexandrea, that same year and eventually divorced six years later in 1979.
She was then married to cinematographer David Claessen from 1986 to 1988. Her third and final marriage was to actor Lyle Trachtenberg in 1994, though they divorced the following year.
Since her third divorce, Goldberg has been very vocal about her views on marriage — and her plans to not wed again. In an August 2023 episode of The View, Goldberg’s co-hosts had a lengthy discussion about why society often sees finding a spouse as the “ultimate goal in life.” At the end of the segment, Goldberg simply said, “I don’t care.”
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The View airs weekdays on ABC (check local listings).
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