Whoopi Goldberg recently made a shocking admission about her mother’s final resting place.
Goldberg says that when her mom, Emma Harris, died in 2015, that her world was completely shaken without the woman who was her “center of gravity.”
So, the Oscar-winning star set out to find the perfect place to spread her ashes, and as she says, it’s nothing to “sneeze” about. Keep reading until the end to learn why dropping ashes in this place is a terrible idea!
When Caryn Elaine Johnson was in her 30s, she told her mother Emma Harris she was changing her name to Whoopi Cushion.
“And then my mother said, ‘are you crazy?’” Goldberg, 68, told the host of Late Night with Seth Meyers. “She said, ‘you’re diminishing your abilities and if you call yourself by Whoopi Cushion, people are not going to really appreciate what you can do.”
Making a compromise, Harris suggested her daughter use a family surname and Whoopi Goldberg became the actor’s new stage name.
Bits and Pieces
The New York-born actor was on Late Night with Seth Meyers promoting her book, “Bits and Pieces, My Mother, My Brother, And Me,” an “intimate and heartfelt memoir” that outlines the influence her family had on her early life.
The co-host of The View shares deeply personal stories, like in 2010 when a phone call from her brother Clyde had her leaving her starring role as Mother Superior in London’s West End run of Sister Act the musical.
“I’ll get on the first plane I can find,” Goldberg writes, explaining that Clyde told her that Harris died of a stroke. Clyde replied, “Don’t rush. She’s not here anymore. It’s okay, Sis.”
Speaking with People about her mom’s death, Goldberg says, “Living without my mother, who was always my world, who had always been that center of gravity. Suddenly the center of gravity wasn’t there.”
‘A world of laughter’ and tears
Before Clyde died from a brain aneurysm in 2015, Goldberg shared with Meyers that the two siblings found the perfect resting place for Harris.
“No one should do this,” Goldberg warns the audience before explaining that when she was a child, Harris would take her to It’s a Small World, an automated boat ride introduced in 1964 at New York’s World’s Fair.
In 1966, after two years at the fair, the ride – known as “the happiest cruise that ever sailed”– was shipped to California and the fan favorite opened in Disneyland, a place her mother enjoyed.
“My mother loved Disneyland, and so we took her to Disneyland. She loved ‘Small World.’”
Goldberg spills the beans
Spilling the details on spilling the ashes along the ride, the star of The Color Purple continues, “So, in the Small World ride, periodically, I scooped some of her up, and I do this,” she explains while playing out a dramatic sneeze.
Demonstrating how she dropped the ashes during her pretend sneeze, Goldberg continues, “I said, ‘My God, this cold is getting worse and worse.’ And then we got over to the flowers where it says, ‘Disneyland,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, look at that!’”
Feeling guilty about what she had done, Goldberg – who became a Disney Legend in 2017 – confessed her wrongdoings to the ride operators.
“I told them I did it,” she explained. “I wanted to make sure, actually, that I hadn’t done something that was dangerous because it hadn’t occurred to me. But there’s a reason they don’t want ashes just floating around.”
HEPA cleanup
Goldberg isn’t the only one to spread her ashes in a Disney Park.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the famous parks are a hot spot for guests to scatter the ashes of lost loved ones.
The park’s custodians reveal that visitors sneak in ashes and spread them throughout landscaping, flower beds and water rides, including Pirates of the Caribbean and It’s a Small World.
In fact, it’s so popular that it has its own code: HEPA cleanup, which involves an ultrafine vacuum cleaner that’s used at least once a month.
So instead of spending an eternity in the “Happiest place on earth,” Goldberg’s mom may be trapped inside the filter of a power vacuum.
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