Why Is Whoopi Goldberg Unexpectedly Absent From ‘The View’?

Amanda Bell September 30, 2025, 11:30 am

The panel was once again down by one on Tuesday’s (September 30) live episode of The View. This time, it was Whoopi Goldberg who was absent from the table during the episode.

Joy Behar, who stepped in as moderator, announced her absence at the top of the hour, saying, “Whoopi is out sick today. Sorry about that. So, get better soon and come back, Whoopi. We miss you.”

Present for the Tuesday show were Behar, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin.

Goldberg’s absence was unexpected, since she is normally present on the lineup from Mondays through Thursdays. (She is rarely present for Friday shows.) She was present for Monday’s show, during which the cohosts reacted to negative commentaries about the selection of Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny as host of the 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show.

It also follows another unexpected absence. On Monday, cohost Sara Haines was absent from the lineup because, Goldberg explained, she was summoned for jury duty. Haines returned to the lineup on Tuesday’s show.

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It is unknown at this time when Goldberg will return to The View, depending on her recovery from the unspecified illness.

Goldberg, who is also a rare EGOT-winning actor and bestselling author, joined The View in 2007. Since Behar briefly left the show in 2013 before returning in 2015, she is the longest-consecutive-running member of the lineup, despite the fact that Behar first joined the show prior to Goldberg, as part of the original panel in 1997.

Cohost absences are not uncommon on The View, of course. Goldberg previously missed the show in June due to a planned trip to Italy to accept an award for her most recent book, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me. Before that, she also missed the show in January to trek to Paris Fashion Week.

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