Despite getting freaked out at first after being told to use a walker, the 65-year-old daytime show co-host now describes the tool as her 'new best friend.'
- Jun 30, 2021
AceShowbiz - Whoopi Goldberg is back at work despite being on the mend. Revealing that she has suffered from "horrible" sciatica, the TV personality returned to "The View" by using a walker after taking a week-long hiatus.
"Yes, it's me, I'm back," the 65-year-old said in the Tuesday, June 29 episode of the show. "I was out because I was dealing with something called sciatica, which is basically a bulging disc in your back and it impacts the sciatic nerve, which sends pain down your leg."
After likening the pain to a "bad boyfriend who came back to mess with me," Whoopi explained, "So there I was, trying to move my leg - impossible to do." She then added, "It was really horrible, but I'm glad to be here."
"I have a walker, which kind of freaks me out. I didn't know that I needed it," she continued. "That first step with the walker, this is my new best friend. I'm just gliding along. So, that's what happened to me. I'm told that it comes out of nowhere."
Her co-host Joy Behar then divulged that she experienced sciatica when she was younger. She also told Whoopi that she looked "great and rested," to which the comedienne replied, "Well, what can you do laying in the hospital room? I've turned into this little old Black lady. It's really strange."
This was not the first time Whoopi took a break from the CBS daytime talk show. In February 2019, she took a hiatus due to pneumonia and sepsis. Later that year, she told PEOPLE that she had nearly died while in the hospital.
"The doctor told me, 'Listen, you're not going anywhere tomorrow and you're not going anywhere next week because you are really sick,' " she recalled. " 'You were this close to dying.' I was like, 'Really?' I never thought of pneumonia as something that serious. In my mind I wasn't that sick. I hope that this is a cautionary tale for people. You have to take the time to take care of yourself."
