How Whoopi Goldberg Hit Rock-Bottom in the 1980s – And Why She Pulled Back

In her new memoir, “Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me,” “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg writes about her family and the influence they had on her life. The pages are full of stories of fond memories the actress shared with her mother and older brother, Clyde, growing up in New York City.

But Goldberg also opens up about some of the darker moments in her life, including her cocaine use during the 1980s and the moment she received the wake-up call she needed to get herself clean.

The EGOT winner recalls the culture in Hollywood when she arrived from New York and how drugs were prevalent on the party scene.

“I was invited to parties where I was greeted at the door with a bowl of Quaaludes from which I could pick what I wanted. Lines of cocaine were laid across tables and bathroom counters for the taking,” the actress writes. “Everybody knew the cops weren’t going to raid the Beverly Hills, Bel Air, or Hollywood Hills house of a big-time producer or actor, so the attitude was very relaxed. Everyone partook. You knew you were going to get high for a couple hours and then get laid before the night was over.”

But Goldberg says what started out as “fun” eventually became paralyzing. And after a year of casual use, cocaine had turned her into someone she didn’t recognize.

“Cocaine started to kick my ass. I’d go to work and realize I was getting sloppy. I didn’t like it. I knew it wasn’t good. At one point, I hallucinated something was under my bed, and I’d be attacked if I got up. So I didn’t move out of bed for 24 hours. That kind of shit doesn’t end pretty. There’s only so long a person can hold their bladder,” she writes.

“The Color Purple” star says an encounter with a housekeeper at an upscale Manhattan hotel forced her to realize that she’d hit rock bottom. The housekeeper found Goldberg sitting alone on the floor of a closet in the room with an ounce of cocaine someone had given her for her birthday. Seeing the fear on her face, Goldberg says, was a much-needed wake up call.

“Once she understood it was my room, she calmed down and left. I looked at myself in the mirror near the door and saw cocaine all over my face” Goldberg writes.

Goldberg says her mother and her daughter, Alex, were her main motivation to regain control of her life.

“I didn’t need my mom to be disappointed or pissed at me — I was pissed enough at myself,” she writes.