Despite a recent near death experience, “The View” co-star and comedian Whoopi Goldberg is still giving her fans a reason to laugh.
During Friday’s episode of the ABC talk show, Goldberg announced that’s she’s been absent from the five-member panel because she developed pneumonia in both lungs and was septic.
Goldberg has been absent from the talk show, which she co-hosts, since Feb. 6. She did not say when she'll be back.
“Yes, I came very close to leaving the earth,” Goldberg said from her sofa via a video message. “Good news, I didn’t.”
The 63-year-old also thanked the audience and her fans for all of their good wishes and comments. She didn’t miss the opportunity to sneak in a joke.
“Even people who aren’t huge fans of mine have actually said nice things about me," Goldberg said, earning laughter from the audience. “We all know that’s gonna change when I get back.”
After the nearly two-minute-long video ended, fellow cast member Abby Huntsman shared how much she missed Goldberg’s humor and wittiness.
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Joy Behar revealed her fellow cast member's illness during the Feb. 20 episode when fans began to question her absence, People reported. Rumors also circled that Goldberg was secretly preparing to host the Academy Awards for the fifth time.
“There are all these conspiracy theories on the Internet that she’s not really sick and she’s secretly preparing to host the Oscars,” Behar said. “She’s not even well enough to host this show right now, let alone the Oscars.”
Goldberg’s news follows after a series of pneumonia-related deaths have swept Hollywood.
In January, coroner office officials revealed that the Nov. 15 death of Kim Porter, a former girlfriend of rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, had been caused by pneumonia and cardiac arrest. Combs and Porter, whom Combs said was more than a soul mate, had three children together.
Last week, 2017 “The Voice” contestant and cancer survivor Janice Freeman died of pneumonia and a blood clot, according to Today. Freeman was 33 years old.
After her experience battling pneumonia, Goldberg took the chance to directly address the rest of the “View” cast.
“Ladies, I cannot wait to see y’all,” Goldberg said. “This has been interesting and I’ll tell you about it when we’re all at the table.”
“To everybody, see you soon,” she added before blowing a kiss.
