Why Whoopi Goldberg & Joy Behar Aren’t Retiring From ‘The View’ Anytime Soon

Paige Strout September 10, 2025, 12:17 pm

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Whoopi Goldberg on ABC's 'The View, September 2021; Joy Behar on ABC's 'The View,' September 2021. — ABC/Jenny Anderson

Two of The View‘s longtime hosts have no plan to step away from the show anytime soon.

“Creative people don’t really retire,” Joy Behar shared in a video interview with Entertainment Tonight posted on Tuesday, September 9. Whoopi Goldberg, meanwhile, expressed her interest in retirement before explaining why she won’t do so in the near future.

“Who can afford to do that?” Goldberg quipped. “If you don’t marry well, you gotta keep working. … I’ve got to keep paying those bills, baby.”

Behar went on to note that she really likes to “write and create stuff,” but she hasn’t “had time to paint” amid her busy The View schedule. “When Phyllis Diller, who’s one of my idols, when she was in her 80s and later, she said to me, ‘I tried writing. It didn’t work. So, I started painting,'” Behar shared. “And when I went to visit her, she had her paintings all over the house with price tags on them. So, creative people don’t retire. They don’t resign. They just keep going.”

Behar has been on The View since its premiere in 1997. She stepped away from the ABC talk show in 2013 before returning to her hosting role in 2015. “I mean, I look good. It’s a huge number, though. It’s ridiculous. It’s getting close to 100,” Behar told the outlet of turning 83 later this year. “I remember when I was 50, I was upset that I was 50. And now, I’m not upset anymore. … From 50 on, I think I really got it together, really well. My career, where my head is at, my anxiety levels, everything. It’s been, really, a good ride.”

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Goldberg, for her part, has appeared on the show’s hosting panel since 2007. “I’ve gotten older, and now, I’m kind of proud that I actually got this far,” she remarked.

The View returned from its summer hiatus on Monday, September 8, with all six hosts appearing, including Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin, and Ana Navarro. While her cohosts dished about their fun summer activities, Goldberg shared that she did “absolutely nothing” during her break from the show.

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“There is not a lot you can do about what you’re hearing [in the news]. You can do a lot about what you’re living, who you’re living with, how you’re living, where you’re living, and your family. Paying attention to your family, making them laugh, making them do stuff, feeding them food they don’t want to eat but that you want them to eat, or having reunions with people, those are all things that we can do to combat the…” she said before stopping herself from cursing on air. “I didn’t say it!” she noted.

She went on to state, “These are the things we can do to combat all the things that are being heaped on us on a daily basis, things [we] cannot do anything about — nobody to yell at, nobody to talk to — but we can work on ourselves in our homes and our families. Let’s focus on that and let them do whatever they’re doing because we’re going to prevail. No matter what, we’re America.”

The View, Weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC