Whoopi Goldberg Was Stunned at Her Daughter's Early Pregnancy: "I Thought It Was Revenge"

In her new autobiography Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me, scheduled to release on May 7, Academy Award winner Whoopi Goldberg shared some shocking details about her childhood and family life. In her memoir, Goldberg reveals how her only daughter, Alex Martin, hated the actress's frequent shoot schedules and extended absences from home during her ascent to stardom. The Sister Act star recalls how shocked she was to learn that her young daughter was pregnant. "Years later, Alexandrea told me that she thinks she got pregnant as a teenager because she wanted one person in her life who didn't know who Whoopi Goldberg was...I thought she was getting revenge on me for being gone so much. I got it." When Alex became pregnant at 15, Goldberg, then in her 30s, became a young grandma.

As per The US Sun, The View co-host worried that if her daughter became a young mother, she would miss out on life with other teens. Once a young mother herself, when she became pregnant at the age of 18, Goldberg didn't want the same for her daughter. Goldberg had Alex with her first husband, Alvin Martin, who had been her drug counselor during her adolescent years after she developed a heroin addiction growing up in New York.

Goldberg told The Sunday Telegraph in 2009, "I was young, homeless, and addicted to heroin. I dropped out of high school and into drugs. Simple as that. I was a child of the '60s so I ingested as many mind-altering substances as I could." She added, "It was a rite of passage. And when I got clean I was convinced I wanted to be an actor." 

Goldberg was married to Martin for six years, from 1973 to 1979, and she acknowledged in the book that she was the one to end the union after realizing it was never the right decision for her to get married. She stated her husband didn't support her dream of wanting to act or perform, and even though she liked him, she eventually moved back in with her mother.

Despite disliking being a single parent, she claimed that she loved her daughter. Additionally, in her book, Goldberg reveals she knew Alex would resent her for not being around more. Despite this, she remained determined to provide a better life for them. She also recalled incidents of her daughter being 'p***ed off' when pushed aside by enthusiastic fans or when dinners at restaurants were interrupted by fans demanding a picture. 

Matin gave birth to her first child, Amara, with her grandmother, Emma Harris, in the delivery room on November 13, 1989. According to Goldberg, her daughter eventually forgave her for being absent during the special moment, and the two have become closer since. Goldberg also revealed in the memoir that she only had one child because she found childbirth painful. The Color Purple star compared it to 'shoving a ninety-two-inch TV screen through a tiny hole,' saying she wasn't prepared for 'that level of pain.'

Editor's note: This article was originally published on May 4, 2024. It has since been updated.