“What a Depressing Bitch I Am”: Whoopi Goldberg Rethinks Her 1992 Cover Story

Whoopi Goldberg wears Coat Balenciaga. Sunglasses Stylist’s Own.

Before she was an American institution, Whoopi Goldberg was an actor who courted controversy, whether she wanted to or not. In 1992, when the Sister Act star was at the peak of her box-office power and coming off a Best Supporting Actress Oscar win for her performance in Ghost, she appeared on the cover of this magazine, interviewed by her friend Matthew Modine. The conversation was honest and unapologetic, qualities that, more than three decades later, still define her.

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“I was glad welfare was there for me. Food stamps, all those things. I was able to take care of my kid because the system was in place. I don’t know anybody to this day who wants to be on welfare because it’s become a bad word.”

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“Same old shit. You’re a person of a certain age and it’s not your turn anymore. You’re not the hottest thing in the room, and either you embrace it or you go, ‘Well, that was a drag.’ So I embrace it. I’m getting older and I’m happy about it because the alternative sucks.”

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“What I’ve figured out is that everybody has their path, and sometimes it’s going to lead people where they don’t want to go, but that’s where they have to go. That’s their path. So it’s a bitch growing up, you know?”

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“Jesus, what a depressing bitch I am. I mean, that’s the most depressing shit I’ve ever heard. Yeah, I was a weird kid. I’m still a weird kid. Now I don’t give a fuck what people think.”

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“That’s probably still true, and now more than ever, we’re finding that diversity is not as attractive to people. You discover there are a lot of people who have felt that way for quite some time. But you are born who you are and you do the best with what you got. I was successful because I was kind of unique and that was okay, but it’s much harder to be unique now because now you’re not sure if somebody’s actually unique or they’re Instagram unique. This face has been my face the whole time. There’s no filter. What hangs has always hung, what’s on the ground has always been on the ground. I’m lucky I got to miss all of that.”

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“That’s the truth. I’ve worked with some really great people and I’ve worked with some very strange people. I like the people who really like actors and Altman loved actors.”

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“There was a big dust-up, and that chapter doesn’t exist anymore. People were very upset because they felt, ‘How could Steven direct it?’ But he’s a director. It’s what they do. They know how to tell stories. The people that came in and are now doing this kind of work are much smarter about it.”

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“I was a little annoyed with that. We were nominated, I think, for 11 Academy Awards and we didn’t get one. We didn’t get dust on the ground. And it always made me feel bad because I thought Steven did a great job and I thought the actors were really good.”

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“It’s different how people do stuff now, you know? Now you have to answer somebody on your phone. You’d walk up to Spike and say, ‘Did I just hear you say that?’ And he said, ‘Well, this is what I meant.’ That’s different from how stuff gets done now. Now people just talk about your babies and shit, call your baby ugly. It’s terrible. They say terrible things. I don’t pay attention to it.”

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“I think it’s probably less true now, but it took people a long time to just let me be Whoopi Goldberg. They were like, ‘Why is your name Whoopi?’ ‘Because it’s funny. Because it’s a stupid name.’ ‘Well, how come Goldberg?’ ‘It’s because it’s family. That’s why.’ Then it was like, ‘Well, how could it be your family?’ It’s like, ‘Come on. It is what it is.’ And now people have let it go and say, ‘Okay, you can be Whoopi Goldberg.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, thanks.’”

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Hair: Derick Monroe 

Makeup: Matin using Danessa Myricks Beauty and Spela Cosmetics at Tracey Mattingly Agency

Tailor: Matthew Neff

Digital Technician: Geoffrey Lung

Photography Assistants: Zach Helper and Daren Conui

Fashion Assistant: Alvin Kim

Production Director: Alexandra Weiss 

Photography Producer: Georgia Ford 

Production Interns: Ha Chu and Isaac James 

Post-production: Nikita Shaletin

Location: Contra Studios