Whoopi Goldberg Reveals the Surprising Reason She’s Absent from ‘The View’ This Week

Whoopi Goldberg is skipping The View this week, but it’s for an exciting reason: She’s appearing in an Italian soap opera.

“I’m not starring in it — I’m in the Italian soap opera,” Goldberg, 70, told The View executive producer Brian Teta during a Thursday, November 13 episode of the Behind the Table podcast.

“It’s great because you love acting and it’s nice for you to get a break from here occasionally. We will miss you desperately,” said Teta. “But you’ll be back, which is the important thing to mention. You’re going to be on the longest-running soap opera in Italy … How do you feel?”

Goldberg’s vast acting credentials include The Color Purple, Ghost, Sister Act, among others.

“I only know soap operas here, so I don’t know,” the TV personality replied. “I love a soap opera. I love it … I don’t know how they work there … It’ll be new and I wish I could take y’all with me.”

“It’s time for me to do some things in addition to this,” said Goldberg, who has cohosted the ABC talk show since 1997, adding: “This is the longest-running job I’ve ever had.”

Goldberg admitted that she previously had to overcome her fear of flying.

“I didn’t fly for like, 20 years or something,” she told Teta, 49, adding that she’s visited Greece, Sicily and Sardinia.

Whoopi’s absence follows that of her View cohost Joy Behar, who did not appear on the show for several days last week, due to a foot injury.