Whoopi Goldberg recalls how she saved her mother from taking her own life before she was sent away to a psychiatric hospital for two years and given electric shock therapy: 'We were told nothing'

Whoopi Goldberg has revealed that she didn't see her mother for two years from the age of eight because she was sent away to New York City's Bellevue psychiatric hospital after she attempted to take her own life. Whoopi Goldberg has revealed that she didn't see her mother, Emma Johnson, for two years from the age of eight because she was sent away to a psychiatric hospital The 68-year-old opened up about new memoir Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, And Me on Wednesday's episode of The View Whoopi said she decided to write the book because she was 'starting to forget a lot of stuff' The actor recalled how she stopped her mother from taking her own life back in the 1960s During Wednesday's episode of The View, Whoopi opened up about such extracts from her new memoir during an interview with the panel, including Joy Behar. Turning to the live studio audience, Whoopi then said: 'So, here's another reason why you must really pay attention to what's going on politically because there was a time in this country where your husband or your brother or any man involved in your life could make medical decisions for you. Whoopi recalled how she she came home from school one day and found her mother looking 'disheveled' and 'muttering incoherently' The Oscar winning actor spoke to her cohosts, Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farah Griffin, about her new book Whoopi also writes about older brother Clyde in the book, who sadly died of a brain aneurysm in May 2015 'So my mother's father, my grandfather, and my dad okayed it.