Is Whoopi Goldberg Gay or Lesbian and Who Is Her Partner or Is She Married?

Is Whoopi Goldberg Gay or Lesbian? Although Whoopi Goldberg has been rumored to be gay severally, however, on many occasions the actress has debunked the rumors of being gay or lesbian and maintains that she is straight, and her relationships also suggest something different!

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Whoopi’s unabashed support for the LGBTQIA community brought up the lingering question about the truth regarding her sexuality. She has always been very active and vocal in her support for the movement for the rights of this community, and many believe this was because she was one of them.

Being undoubtedly one of the finest entertainers that America has ever produced with a career that has spanned over four decades, Whoopi Goldberg has managed to not only bag some of the world’s most prestigious awards but has also helped create a strong liberal platform that encourages minorities (namely black women and members of the LGBTQIA) to speak up about their choices.

In this read, you will find out whether there is any truth to these claims or not. Read on for an expose on the sexuality of the iconic Whoopi Goldberg!

Tracing Whoopi Goldberg’s Gay/Lesbian Rumors

When Whoopi began her professional career in the 80s, she probably didn’t know that something as private as her sexual preferences would be the subject of discussion on blogs and television shows. This was her fate after playing the role of Celie Johnson in the 1985 Stephen Spielberg classic, ‘The Color Purple.’ In this movie, she played a woman with a female love interest and nailed her character perfectly.

In another film, ‘Boys on the Side,’ she again played the role of a lesbian who fell in love with a woman named Robin (played by Mary-Louise Parker). The speculations about Goldberg’s sexual orientation began from her near-flawless depiction of those movie roles.

Meanwhile, when asked about these rumors, Goldberg, in her typical forward fashion, replied by letting the media know that she had always believed herself to be a straight woman. She went further to say that she’d noticed that individuals made assumptions because of the movie roles she had played and not by following her real-life experiences, a behavior which the actor referred to as very ‘odd and blind.’

In a 2014 interview with Chris Azzopardi of PrideSource magazine, she further explained saying:

“You’ve never seen me with a lady… Nah, I’m straight, yet what’s the significance here? What does it truly mean?”

It is clear that her response didn’t stem from a need to defend herself from what she believes is natural for some people. It was to prevent the spread of further untruths about her personal life.

The Grammy-award winner went on to meditate that there were other serious things to shame her with and that she did not consider her sexuality to be one of those. Whoopi further reiterated her love and support for gay people, stating that as an artist, she grew up in an industry that had many LGBTQIA members, and she knew they were every bit as human as heterosexual people, and as such, deserved respect as well.

The Hollywood star noted that there were always attempts by ignorant people to divide humans along the lines of race, color, and sexuality, despite the apparent reality that we were all the same species, with the same general problems. She concluded by urging people to focus on what was important and allowing others to live – such wise words if one might add.

Notwithstanding her Sexuality, Whoopi Goldberg Has Been Gender-Fluid For Many Years

Sometimes a person’s actions could appear contradictory to their beliefs or words, and even the best of us often get caught up in this quagmire of being thoroughly misunderstood. For Whoopi Goldberg, this happened when she renounced the title of ‘actress,’ in favor of the more encompassing, gender-neutral term, ‘actor.’

When asked why she did so in an NBC interview in 1986, the ‘Sister Act’ star gave a quirk remark, saying that identifying as an actress means that she would be restricting herself to playing only female roles, whereas she considered herself an actor with a very broad performance range. In other words, Goldberg believed the term was instrumental to the history of shortchanging female actors, a culture that is sadly too popular in Hollywood.

Nonetheless, the Star has Always Expressed her Joy at Being Seen as a Key Member of the LGBTQIA

The 68-year-old comedian and moderator took the time to appreciate the community that accepted her completely when no one wanted her. During the launch of her first television production, ‘Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley,’ she expressed her immense gratitude to her LGBTQIA fan base.

According to Goldberg, she was an outcast both in the black community and among the white populace. However, the queer community never rejected her, which formed the genesis of a long-standing relationship of moral support between the two parties.

These declarations didn’t help her claims that she was not gay, and questions about her sexuality – especially in the wake of her failed marriages – continued to make for discussions on several blogs and personal interviews.

In one of such interviews, she answered one last question about her sexuality, saying that she would no longer respond to any further speculations, as she no longer cared what the public perception of her was. As yet, there is no evidence of her being a lesbian, and it is clear that she is just a straight woman who stands in firm solidarity with the LGBTQIA.

As Irrefutable Proof of Her ‘Straightness,’ Whoopi Goldberg Has Been Married Three Times to Three Different Men

We don’t know how Whoopi Goldberg did it, but for as long as she has been in the public eye, she has impressively managed to divert public attention from her private life continuously. This is why it might come as a rude surprise to learn that she has been married not once or twice but three whopping (sound more like Whoopi) times!

Currently, the award-winning actress and TV personality appear to be single. Still, throughout her time in the media’s eye, she had never been romantically linked to anybody of a similar sex. In all fairness, she was never spotted with a potential female lover. All her known relationships have been with people of the opposite sex. This should hopefully put an end to the speculations for good. However, the persistence of the speculation that she is gay or lesbian makes her case a curious one.

Here are Whoopi Goldberg’s ex-husbands and what they are up to now

Whoopi Goldberg and Alvin Martin – (1973-1979)

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg’s marriage to Alvin Martin was the first known public relationship that the movie star had been involved in. The marriage is also her longest-lasting marriage as she was married to Alvin for six long years.

When Whoopi and Alvin initially met, she was a heroin-addicted high-school dropout, and he was her drug counselor. As fate would have it, Alvin was her state-assigned drug counselor. What followed was a friendship that quickly turned into love, and they got married when Whoopi was only 18 years old. This was the year that she gave birth to her first and only child, a daughter named Alex Martin.

None of them have ever revealed what made them separate, but it was clear that they couldn’t stay married to each other. It was after they split that she became drug-free and finally decided to take her acting more seriously. T

heir marriage ended for good in 1979, after six long years. Whoopi went on and got married two more times, but Alvin Martin never remarried to date. After the breakdown of her marriage, Whoopi moved to another state and raised Alexandrea all by herself as a single mother.

Whoopi Goldberg and David Claessen – (1986-1988)

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi’s marriage to David Claessen happened a year after her debut as Celie on Stephen Spielberg’s The Color Purple. She met the then 27-year old cinematographer on the set of a documentary production titled ‘Who are They’? You could say it was simply a case of a fan being star-struck by their favorite celebrity.

Claessen was a Dutch filmmaker and four years younger than Whoopi Goldberg. It was not that this deterred them because, before long, both were in a serious romantic relationship. After only eight months of dating, they got engaged and were married soon after.

Whoopi’s second marriage was unfortunately very short-lived, and less than two years later, the marriage hit the rocks. They announced their break-up in October 1988 after barely two years in a childless marriage. After his separation from Goldberg, Claessen married Karen Green in 1992 and the British-American writer and photographer Taiye Selasi in 2013.

Lyle Trachtenberg and Whoopi Goldberg – (1994-1995)

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg’s final marriage also happened to be her shortest one. She met Hollywood actor Lyle Trachtenberg in 1993 on the set of the romantic drama movie Corrina, Corrina; a movie that featured Goldberg as the title character.

Lyle Trachtenberg was an actor and famous for his work as a film industry union organizer. In 1994, Goldberg and Trachtenberg would surprise everyone by getting hitched. The lovebirds got married in a private ceremony held at her Pacific Palisades mansion. The wedding was attended by over 350 distinguished guests, including actors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stephen Spielberg.

Whoopi Goldberg’s marriage to Lyle Trachtenberg became her most publicized wedding to date, as they were both seasoned Hollywood actors. The marriage lasted for just one year before the thespian couple finally decided to part ways.

Like her second marriage, this was also a childless one, although it isn’t clear whether she tried to have children or not. Meanwhile, a now-single Whoopi Goldberg has severally admitted that she was the cause of her marriage breakdowns, being that she had chronic commitment issues.

Whoopi Goldberg Had a Tough Childhood, and Before She Turned 18, She Already Had No Less Than Seven Abortions

It is no secret that many famous people we know came from some of the most difficult backgrounds, and as such, passed through some very tough experiences. For Goldberg, she passed through the harrowing experience of performing an abortion on herself at the age of 14. This was only the first of many others. In a book titled “The Choices We Made: Twenty-Five Women and Men Speak Out About Abortion,” the actor revealed that she’d taken in and kept it a secret from everyone around her.

Eventually, she resorted to drinking harmful concoctions to terminate the pregnancy. In a last-ditch effort, she could do it with a clothes hanger. The following year, she got pregnant again at 15 but was luckier this time with the abortion process as she was able to acquire a more secure option at Planned Parenthood, as abortions had newly become legal in New York. However, Goldberg always insisted that she wasn’t necessarily proud of her actions. But this didn’t stop her from being a vocal defender of the pro-choice campaign to date.

Whoopi Goldberg’s Only Child is Alexandrea Martin Dean

The name Alexander Martin might ring a bell, but she is an American actress, a model, a movie producer, and yes, she is the first and only child born to Whoopi Goldberg to date. She was conceived in Whoopi’s first marriage to Alvin Martin. Alexandrea Martin was born on May 9, 1973, and is mostly known for being Whoopi’s daughter.

Now a 50-year-old mother-of-two, Alex also has many achievements to her name. She had taken up some minor roles alongside her mother in movies such as The Color Purple and Sisters Act 2. Other movie credits to her name include American Intellectuals and Strange as Angels.

The celebrity adult-child has grown to become somewhat of a television personality just like her mother and has made numerous guest appearances on Whoopi Goldberg’s popular talk show, The View. She is happily married to Bernard Dean, a movie producer, and their union is blessed with two children named Jerzey and Mason Dean. Being the oldest and first daughter, Jersey is three years older than Mason.

Alexander Brown
Alexander Brown
Alexander Brown is an avid reader and aspiring writer who loves exploring the world of entertainment and lifestyle through her writing.

Recommended

Featured Today

Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness, if you've found a possible error, be it factual, editorial or something that needs updating, please contact us

Read This Next