Whoopi Goldberg teases ‘shocking’ paycheck she gets for ‘The View’

Whoopi Goldberg says fans have no idea just how much she’s paid for her seat on The View, telling listeners that seeing the actual number on her paycheck would leave them stunned. 

“Trust me. You can’t,” Goldberg said. “You would be shocked. As soon as they showed you that check, you’d be like, ‘What the!?'”

Goldberg, who has hosted the ABC daytime show since 2007, recalled how she landed the job in the first place, describing a call from the show’s late creator, Barbara Walters, after another co-host departed. 

“I needed a job. Barbara offered me a job. She said, ‘We just lost one of our people on the show. Would you consider coming over?’ I had been doing a radio show. I said, ‘Absolutely.'” 

She added that she’s felt “crazy-glued to that chair” ever since.

Despite the size of her paycheck, Goldberg emphasized she doesn’t take the opportunity for granted, framing her job in the context of a tougher industry landscape where consistent work is harder to come by. 

“I look around every day before I leave my house and I see my family and I see pictures of folks and I think, ‘Oh, yeah. It’s good to have a job,'” she said. 

“Then I come to work. A lot of people don’t have jobs right now. I’m lucky.”