Whoopi Goldberg admits in her upcoming memoir, “Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me,” that she once had a serious addiction to cocaine.
“I had stayed pretty far away from drugs, except for pot, after getting cleaned up in the early 70s,” the Oscar winner, who went to rehab before she was famous, writes in her tome.
Goldberg, 68, went on to explain how Hollywood and New York redefined the meaning of “recreational drug use” in the 80s.
“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,” the “Sister Act” star recalls. “Lines of cocaine were laid across tables and bathroom counters for the taking.”
Goldberg explains that partygoers knew cops were never going to raid the home of a “big-time producer or actor,” so the attitude was allegedly “very relaxed” and “everyone partook.”
The EGOT winner also admits to believing that she could “handle” cocaine as it didn’t appear “dangerous” and it seemed like everyone had access to it at the time.
Goldberg writes that everything was OK for about a year. She claims she was able to hide her drug use and continue working, even showing up to set on time with no issues.
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Not soon long after, however, she felt like cocaine “started to kick [her] ass.”
Things got so bad that Goldberg recalls hallucinating. At one point she believed she saw a dangerous creature lurking under her bed that would try to attack her if she got up.
“So I didn’t move out of bed for twenty-four hours,” the “Ghost” star writes. “That kind of s–t doesn’t end pretty. There’s only so long a person can hold their bladder.”
Finally, Goldberg had what she calls a “slap in the face moment” when she was staying in a ritzy Manhattan hotel. She was sitting in the closet, doing the drug, when a housekeeper came in, opened the closet door and screamed.
Goldberg leaped up and explained it was her room but then caught sight of her face in a mirror, which was smeared with cocaine.
The “Star Trek” alum considers herself lucky, writing that she was “able to stop using drugs quickly,” even though she knew going cold turkey wouldn’t be easy.
“I knew I’d have to change out my friends and turn down invitations but I could do that,” she recalls. “I didn’t want to die.”
“Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me” hits bookshelves on May 7.
