LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Whoopi Goldberg has secured star status in Hollywood, Broadway, and worldwide for quite some time now. Her most recent stint on ‘The View’ has gained her more recognition as people continue to learn more about the co-host.
Between odd jobs and working her way up the ladder, Goldberg has a fear shared by several others. Goldberg has often opened up about her fear of flying, and the reason behind it is quite terrifying, as it also led to the co-host developing severe PTSD.
What caused Goldberg’s fear of flying?
In 2011, Piers Morgan interviewed Goldberg on CNN, where she opened up about the incident that led to this fear. When Morgan asked, “You’re terrified of flying, aren’t you?” Goldberg responded, “Well, I don’t like it. I just feel like, you know, I understand the premise of the bumblebee, but you know, I don’t feel like a bumblebee. I feel like I shouldn’t be flying.” Morgan then pressed on and asked Goldberg if there was something that “sparked” this fear. Goldberg had gotten a little more serious at this point and responded, “Yes, there was a mid-air collision, years…almost 30 years ago, when I was living in San Diego.” Goldberg takes a deep breath as she explains how in San Diego if one stands on the balcony, one can see everything happening.
“We happened to be on the balcony when it happened,” Goldberg admitted as Morgan asked her in disbelief, “You saw it happen?” Goldberg nodded, “Yeah we saw it happen. My little one was very little at the time, so she doesn’t have a memory of it.” Goldberg struggled to speak as she recalled the incident, choking up in the process as she admitted it was “still hard.” Goldberg also explained what was discovered after the collision, “The people on the plane were aware that they were in some danger.” As she explained what had happened, she said, “I just feel for folks in a situation like that who see something that they’re not sure they’re going to live through. That’s what stayed in my mind.”
Goldberg’s struggle with PTSD
After this incident in 1978, Goldberg has made several lists on websites that have spoken about celebrities with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Goldberg’s trauma stayed because she is a visualist, and that image stayed with her, as she also explained in her interview with CNN. Mind Help posted an article about “How Celebrities With PTSD Are Tackling The Disorder Head-On” and Goldberg was second in the article, where Mind Help spoke about how Goldberg her experience and “hoped her mental health experience would create awareness.”
