Whoopi Goldberg opens up about late mother's mental health struggles

Goldberg’s mother underwent electroshock therapy, which caused her to forget her children.

Whoopi Goldberg is opening up about her mother’s mental health struggles.

In an interview with PEOPLE promoting her upcoming memoir, "Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me,” Goldberg spoke about her mother, Emma Harris, experiencing a breakdown that led to a two-year hospitalisation. 

Harris underwent electroshock therapy as part of her treatment, which caused her to forget her children, including Goldberg and her late brother Clyde.

“My mother… said, ‘I didn't know who you were when I got out of the hospital,’” Goldberg recounts in the interview. 

Harris also revealed that her fear of returning to the hospital led her to hide this memory for over 40 years. 

Separated from her mother for two years, Goldberg was forced to navigate life with a newfound independence. 

“Living without my mother...who had always been that center of gravity. Suddenly the center of gravity wasn't there,” she explains.

 

 

 

 

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Harris passed away in 2010 after a stroke.

Goldberg said of her mother’s former students, “They're power people now. All of her kids are power people. She was really something. She really was.”