Whoopi Goldberg's Intrusive Question To 'View' Co-Host Sadly Proves Women Are Still Not Supporting Each Other
We are so much more than the sum of what our biology can do.
Instagram, Sam Aronov / Shutterstock; NANO DESIGN, Katjabakurova/ Getty Images via Canva The talk show "The View" is known for the quick-paced, back-and-forth dialogue between its five hosts. During the September 14, 2023 episode, the interaction between two specific hosts, Whoopi Goldberg and Alyssa Farah Griffin, took a turn no one was expecting.
The women at the table were discussing Mitt Romney’s decision to not seek re-election in the Senate. As Goldberg was offering her political opinion, she cut herself off abruptly, turning to Griffin to ask, “Are you pregnant?”
Goldberg’s intrusive question to Griffin shows that women still aren’t supporting each other in actionable ways.
Whether or not Griffin is pregnant, it’s not Goldberg’s, or anyone else’s, role to allude to that huge life change without Griffin’s express permission.
The unscripted moment got a major reaction from "The View’s" audience, as Griffin replied to Goldberg’s question, her jaw dropping, as she exclaimed, “No!” Griffin then grilled Goldberg, asking, “Why? Do I look pregnant? Please tell me it’s not my tummy,” a statement which made the audience erupt in laughter.
Griffin later joined Brian Teta, the executive director of "The View," on the podcast "Behind The Table."
The fact that the show’s production team crafted an entire podcast episode around the intrusive slip of Goldberg’s tongue shows the intense level of interest the public has about a life decision that’s ultimately extremely personal and private.
Teta mentioned that he “doesn’t consider Whoopi Goldberg a ‘blurter,’” as in, someone who blurts out statements without consideration of how they’ll land.
Griffin made sure to restate that she was definitely not pregnant while attempting to frame the conversation in a light-hearted way. She explained, “I’m giving credit to my makeup artist for making my face look like it was glowing.”
The reality is that no one has the right to comment on anyone else’s body, even if it’s complimentary.
Griffin addressed the incident directly yet not angrily, stating that “Whoopi thinks out loud sometimes... She’s so sweet, at the break she was apologizing to me and giving me the heart sign.”
She continued to frame the invasive question as just the nature of the show, adding, “That’s what makes the show fun. It’s completely unpredictable — I thought we were talking about Mitt Romney, and then we were talking about my pregnancy plans for the future.”
“Headline news, again, I am not pregnant at this time,” she reiterated.
She went on to note the extreme differences between her current role as a talk show host, where her personal life is on display, to her previous position at the US Department of Defense.
She stated, “I was literally getting texts, on the commercial break, from reporters, like, ‘Do you care to respond to this?’ I was like, ‘I used to take questions about, there was a missile attack in Afghanistan,’ and now I’m like, ‘No, I’m not going to comment on my fake pregnancy right now.’”
The way American society tends to disregard women’s professionality to focus on their personal lives is acting in full force in this situation.
In Goldberg’s defense, she clearly felt at fault for calling attention to Griffin, in a way Griffin didn’t ask to be focused on.
Teta recalled that Goldberg claimed, “‘It just came over me, I don’t know what happened.’ It was like a vision, she felt like it just came out of her.” Griffin went on to imagine a hypothetical scenario, saying that if she were actually pregnant, and she’d told Goldberg, she was sure the advice from Goldberg would be not to tell anyone until she felt ready.
That imagined advice from Goldberg would be entirely correct. The decision to have a baby belongs to the individuals involved in that life-altering choice, and no one else.
The incident speaks to the extreme scrutiny that women are constantly under — for our bodies, our tone of voice, and the accuracy of our knowledge. Over and over, our intellectual contributions take a backseat to our role as a mother, a potential mother, or someone who could possibly be pregnant.
Goldberg’s comment wasn’t inherently malicious, yet it highlighted the misogyny that’s so deeply internalized, even women think it’s okay to ask other women about being pregnant. It’s not. The intimate details of a person’s life belong to them, and them alone.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers celebrity gossip, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.