Whoopi Goldberg has done it all. From starring in “Ghost,” “The Color Purple,” and “Sister Act” to becoming an EGOT winner, the Hollywood icon has built one of the most impressive résumés in entertainment. In 2007, she added daytime television to that list when she joined “The View,” eventually rising to the show’s moderator after years as a co-host. Now, nearly two decades into her run on the long-running talk show, Goldberg is opening up about what keeps her coming back. In a recent interview with Keke Palmer, Goldberg shared one thing she loves about “The View” and revealed something about the long-running show that she said Palmer couldn’t even imagine.
On a recent episode of “Baby, This Is Keke Palmer,” Goldberg opened up to the “True Jackson, VP” actress and revealed why she joined “The View” in the early 2000s. “I needed a job,” she said.
As the conversation continued, Palmer asked the 70-year-old to share one thing she loves about hosting the beloved talk show, to which she replied, “The check. I love the check.”
Palmer shot back, “I can only imagine what that check is,” prompting Goldberg to make a rare confession about the reality of the situation.
“No, no, you can’t. Trust me, you can’t,” Goldberg said. “You would be shocked. As soon as they showed you that check, you’d be like ‘What the?’”
Whoopi Goldberg Previously Said She Couldn’t Afford To Retire
It’s unclear whether Goldberg’s comment was positive or negative; however, the actress has opened up about her finances in the past.
A year ago, Goldberg spoke with Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet about work and life, and when a reporter asked when she would decide to slow down, Goldberg implied she’d keep working until she was physically unable.
“Yeah, but who can afford to do that? You know, if you don’t marry well, you gotta keep working,” she said. “No, not by now. Not yet. I gotta keep paying those bills, baby.”
Whoopi Goldberg Said She Had To Work
Goldberg then made headlines in 2024 when she shared her thoughts on money during a Hot Topic segment of “The View.”
“I appreciate that people are having a hard time. Me, too. I work for a living,” she said. “If I had all the money in the world, I would not be here, okay? So, I’m a working person, you know?”
She didn’t stop there. She added, “My kid has to feed her family. My great-granddaughter has to be fed by her family. I know it’s hard out there.”
Josh Peck Reveals How Much Me Made Filming ‘Drake & Josh’
Goldberg isn’t the only actor who has spoken candidly about money. In a June 2026 podcast episode, Josh Peck revealed how much he and Drake Bell made after starring in the Nickelodeon show “Drake & Josh” for four years.
“By the time we finished Drake & Josh, so that was, like, 60 episodes total for the whole show. The median rate, the average rate per episode was about $15,000,” Peck shared. “So over four years, we wound up making about 900 grand.”
However, after accounting for taxes and talent fees, Peck said he and Bell cleared “half of that,” which averaged out to about “$125,000 a year.”
Other Performers Talk About How Much They Were Paid To Appear On TV
While the “Drake & Josh” leads appear to have come out of their Nickelodeon days in good financial shape, they weren’t the only performers to make surprisingly little money from major screen projects.
“Jack*ss” star Steve-O previously revealed that he earned less than $1,500 “for the entire first season” of the MTV series. At the time, his financial situation was so dire that he recalled, “Before the show came out, my sister kicked me out of the house. I was broke, unemployed, and homeless, and a star on this big MTV show.”
“Wolf of Wall Street” actor Jonah Hill, meanwhile, revealed that he was paid just $60,000 for his role in Martin Scorsese’s film. Unlike Steve-O, however, Hill didn’t see the paycheck as a problem. He famously said he “would sell [his] house and give him all [his] money to work for [Scorsese],” adding, “This isn’t about money. You should do things that you care about.”
