TV
Priciest reality TV signings ever… from I’m a Celeb star who matched Coleen Rooney’s huge fee to CBB icon on £100k a DAY
THERE’S just one week to go before a new roster of pampered celebs are sent Down Under to scoff disgusting animal parts and come face-to-face with creepy crawlies, rats and snakes.
But don’t feel sorry for the cast of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! because they are paid exuberant fees – including Coleen Rooney who’s reportedly making a staggering £1.5million.
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In the jungle, she’s expected to dish the dirt on the ‘Wagatha Christie’ trial against Rebekah Vardy and the antics of her husband, ex-England footballer Wayne Rooney.
Alongside the sizeable signing-on fee, which if she lasts the full three weeks is equal to £71,428 per day, she’s predicted to cash in up to £5million from brand deals, sponsorships and collaborations.
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Celebrities can earn an absolute fortune by appearing on reality TV shows, and reboot their careers in the process. Here we reveal some of the largest amounts paid to the stars.
Nigel Farage – £1.5million
Matching Coleen at the top, with a £1.5million signing-on fee, was firebrand politician Nigel Farage who appeared on I’m A Celebrity last year.
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It was clear the public had an axe to grind with the controversial Reform UK leader and Donald Trump bestie, 60, because he participated in nine out of 27 Bushtucker Trials.
Among the most grueling was him having to eat a ‘four-penis pizza’ – watch below, if you dare…
He placed third in the show after surviving his final challenge – being stuck in a metal box while large snakes slithering across his face and body.
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Ray J – £1million
Upon signing up for Celebrity Big Brother in 2017, R&B singer Ray J said he hoped people would finally see the ‘real him’ and not “what I did in bed”.
But the 43-year-old, who famously featured in a leaked sex tape with Kim Kardashian, pulled out of the show after just seven days.
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Ray J, who was paid between £800,000 and £1million, had a “bad tooth problem” and claimed he begged producers for “three-and-a-half days” before they let him leave the house.
In protest to the alleged refusal of medical treatment, the musician and his housemates told producers: “We’re not doing any more tasks until Ray J’s tooth gets fixed.”
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Stormy Daniels – £750,000
Celebrity Big Brother in 2018 was set to be one of the juiciest series of all after producers managed to bag the adult actress Stormy Daniels.
The 45-year-old was expected to tell all about her alleged fling with then-US President Donald Trump and would have been paid a handsome £750,000 for it.
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However just five hours before the show, Stormy pulled out. It’s claimed she wanted to “appear on launch night and then leave”, which CBB bosses didn’t agree to.
Her lawyer Michael Avenatti hit back saying the CBB team was trying to “script” her responses, “control what Stormy was going to say and do” and ultimately claims the TV team “refused to let her go on” the show.
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Noel Edmonds – £600,000
Deal Or No Deal presenter Noel Edmonds was the highest-paid star to ever appear on I’m A Celebrity back in 2018 when ITV forked out a whopping £600,000 for him.
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However, after failing to win over the public – including with the promise that he would quit TV altogether if he won the reality show – he was the first person voted out.
Later, Noel told ITV’s Lorraine: “I was hoping to hang around for a little bit longer. I hadn’t even actually got into my stride.”
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That series was won by former football manager Harry Redknapp and while Noel was certainly disappointed, he could easily mop up the tears with his bumper pay cheque.
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His super-short 11-day stint breaks down to a whopping £54,000 per day or £2,272 per hour, which is 143 times higher than the average UK salary at £15.88.
David Guest – £600,000
Few could forget the iconic 2016 “David’s dead” CBB moment – if you can’t, remind yourself below.
It was a miscommunication that led housemates to wrongly believe film producer David Gest had passed away.
Angie Bowie was breaking the news about her ex-husband David Bowie having died but didn’t specify his last name when relaying the information. Due to Gest resting in bed nearby while suffering from illness, some feared it was him.
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In a tragic twist, David, who was Liza Minnelli’s ex, had to quit the show after 13 days due to medical grounds and tragically passed away after a stroke three months later.
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Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt – £570,000
Bizarrely, reality stars Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt competed as a single entity on Celebrity Big Brother in 2012 and famously fell out with Rylan Clark.
The couple, who rose to fame on The Hills, were branded “snidey b******s” by the X Factor singer after an explosive task where they revealed how they felt about housemates.
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Heidi and Spencer, known as ‘Speidi’ in the show, were worth their £570,000 fee due to that sensational moment alone and were furious when they lost out to Rylan in the finals.
Spencer moaned about the small margin Rylan won by, before he clapped back: “I didn’t beat them by a little two or three per cent. I won by the highest percentage in Celebrity Big Brother history – just clearing that up.”
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Caitlyn Jenner – £500,000
Four years after coming out as transgender in 2015, Caitlyn Jenner was snapped up by I’m A Celebrity bosses hoping she would spill the beans on her difficult journey.
The Kardashians’ step-parent allegedly received a £500,000 appearance fee and was put forward by her agent due to her love of “amazing daredevil experiences”.
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Caitlyn lasted until Day 20, leaving the ITV show in sixth place, after taking part in Bushtucker trials including Slop Of The Pops.
It was branded the “most vile” challenge of the series (below) and featured her and Roman Kemp being covered in fish guts, rotten eggs, offal and decaying fruit while they were spun on a wheel.
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Sharon Osbourne – £500k (for just FIVE days)
Few people can honestly say they have been paid £100,000 for just one day’s work.
But that’s the lucky position Sharon Osbourne found herself in while appearing in last year’s Celebrity Big Brother house.
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Sharon was there for just five days but claimed she would be worth every penny because “there will be lots of stories” about ‘frenemy’ Simon Cowell, adding: “He’s going to need more Botox after we finish with him.”
Not only did the 72-year-old get a bumper pay cheque but she was also given special privileges other housemates didn’t get – like sleeping in her own room, not having a wake-up call and being able to phone her rocker hubby Ozzy.
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Harry Redknapp – £500k
Beloved football manager ‘Arry Redknapp bagged half a million quid from I’m A Celebrity back in 2018 and he was crowned King of the Jungle.
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The ex-Tottenham and West Ham head honcho came out trumps on in the series, which starred Emily Atack and John Barrowman, and was the show’s oldest victor at 71.
It seems Harry’s fee was worth it because nearly 12 million viewers tuned in, then the highest-watched final in recent years. The record was beaten in 2022.
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Boy George – £500k
Boy George had longed to be on reality TV for many years before he his 2022 I’m A Celebrity appearance.
Famously, a decade earlier the Culture Club frontman was asked to appear on CBB but was banned from taking the gig by a judge.
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It was because he had just been released on licence after being jailed for 15 months for handcuffing a male escort to a wall and beating him with a chain, in his East London home. The star wrongly believed the Norweigan was trying to hack into his computer.
Boy George, real name George Alan O’Dowd, was offered £200,000 to appear but a judge refused to let him go on the show.
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In 2022, he was paid £500,000 to go on I’m A Celebrity and was eliminated on Day 18 after taking part in six Bushtucker trials.
Katie Price £450
Being covered in 60,000 cockroaches, coming face-to-face with rats and dining on creepy crawlies multiple times is something few of us would consider.
But we’re not Katie Price, the Page 3 model formerly known as Jordan, who picked up a giant wedge both times she entered the I’m A Celebrity jungle.
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The first time, in 2004, she was paid £400,000 and famously fell for Mysterious Girl crooner Peter Andre, whom she would later marry and have two kids with.
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However, five years later, during her second appearance on the show, she quit on her ninth day after being voted for her SIXTH Bushtucker trial in a row.
Fuming Katie, who was paid £450,000 that time, moaned: “Someone else has to do it. I’m just not doing it anymore.”
I’m A Celebrity 2024
As the hit ITV show enters into its 24th series, a brand new batch of famous faces look set to enter the Aussie jungle once again to face terrifying Bushtucker Trials and living amongst the critters in camp in order to come out on top and be crowned King or Queen of the Jungle. The Sun’s Jake Penkethman takes a look at the stars heading Down Under this year…
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The Voice US fans were left blindsided after a contestant suddenly quit the show, leaving a judge in the lurch.
On the latest episode of the singing competition, which airs on network NBC, Canadian singer Michael Bublé, who is a judge on the show, was informed that Tanner Frick had left the show ahead of the knockouts stage.
Presenter Carson Daly told Bublé: “Michael, Tanner left the competition after rehearsals. You still have Cameron [Wright] and Sloane [Simon].”
No reason was given for Frick’s decision to leave the show – and fans have become even more confused after the contestant appeared to reference the news in cryptic message posted on Instagram and TikTok.
The singer shared a video showing him performing one of his songs, captioning the post: “Ain’t nobody want me anyway.”
However, viewers of the show noted the discrepancy in his statement, as Frick had received support from the judges during his appearances on the series.
In his first audition, all four judges – including Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani and Reba McEntire – turned their chairs around to signify they wanted to send him through to the next round.
Frick initially opted to go with McEntire, who sent him home in the battle stage of the competition – but Bublé swooped in to save him from being eliminated, telling Daly: “Tanner Frick was a huge win for me. That’s a former four-chair turn and a piece of the puzzle that I didn’t have.”
He said of Frick: “I needed that country singer and now I feel like I’m completely in the game. It’s a brave new world we’re about to head into.”
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Frick’s fans expressed surprise over his exit from the show in the comments section of his post, with one writing: “Sure was surprised to hear that you had departed The Voice… I predicted you to go all the way to win it this year. “
Another added: “Ugh I hate that you left The Voice. I had you as my top #1 artist! So sad to see you go but I hope everything is OK!”
An additional fan wrote: “You were definitely one of my favs!!” with another chiming in: “Oh no, where did you go? I felt like you could win The Voice.
TV
EastEnders star Timothy West’s rock solid marriage lasted 61 years – and wife Prunella Scales revealed their secret
A MASTER of the acting craft, Timothy West played everyone from Shakespeare’s King Lear to Stan on EastEnders.
Yet perhaps his most cherished moments on screen were as himself — pootling in a boat on Channel 4 series Great Canal Journeys with Prunella Scales, his beloved wife of 61 years.
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Intelligent and witty Timothy, who died in his sleep on Tuesday aged 90, displayed a devotion to his wife that brought a lump to the throat.
Intended as a travelogue, Great Canal Journeys instead became a reflection on the couple’s decades-long love story — undimmed after Fawlty Towers star Prunella’s dementia diagnosis in 2013.
After a canal ride to Langollen, Denbighs, where they had spent their honeymoon 50 years before, she said: “We just fit, somehow. He never bores me. When he talks, it’s interesting or entertaining.”
Modest and gently spoken, he said: “She can’t remember things very well. But you don’t have to remember things on the canal. You can just enjoy things as they happen — so it’s perfect for her.”
Read more on Timothy West
‘Incredible talents’
He is survived by Prunella, 92, their two sons — actor-director Samuel and teacher Joseph — and his daughter Juliet from an earlier marriage to actress Jacqueline Boyer.
His children said in a statement yesterday: “After a long and extraordinary life, our darling father Timothy died peacefully in his sleep yesterday evening. Tim was with friends and family at the end.”
Timothy Lancaster West CBE was born in Bradford in 1934 and his actor parents Olive and Lockwood advised him to avoid the theatre at all costs.
But after stints selling office furniture, and as a recording engineer, at age 22 he became an assistant stage manager at the Wimbledon Theatre.
He would soon start acting — for much of the 1950s in provincial theatres before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1962. He later went on to play Macbeth twice and King Lear four times.
He was also a French intelligence agent in 1973 film The Day Of The Jackal and took the title role in BBC TV biopic Churchill And The Generals in 1979.
His versatility saw him play Russian despot Joseph Stalin on stage, and greedy mill owner Bradley Hardacre in Eighties comedy Brass on ITV then Channel 4 — a satire of dour BBC working-class dramas of the previous decade.
He also played Stan Carter on EastEnders, and Coronation Street’s Eric Babbage, love interest of Gloria Price.
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With acting in his blood, he continued until the end. Hours after his death was announced, he was seen in BBC soap Doctors, as the neighbour of a patient who fell in their garden.
The BBC show tweeted that it was “a moving reminder of his in- credible talent.”
He met Prunella in 1961. Cast together in BBC play She Died Young, they bonded by doing crosswords and eating Polo mints.
Prunella, later famous as Sybil in Seventies sitcom classic Fawlty Towers, said: “We had a mild, Times-crossword flirtation, and he said, ‘Would you like to come to the pictures?’ I said, ‘Yeah, love to’.”
They kept in touch by post before a fateful date in Oxford. Timothy said: “We went punting, had a meal somewhere and the rest is history.”
The sad thing is you watch the gradual disappearance of the person you knew and loved
Timothy West
But in 2013, Prunella was diagnosed with vascular dementia, and Timothy cared for her in their home of 50 years in Wandsworth, South West London. The next year, they began their canal series.
Two years later, he said: “The sad thing is you watch the gradual disappearance of the person you knew and loved.
“Perhaps we have been to a concert, play or film and there is not much we can say because Pru will have a fairly hazy memory.
“I should think it is very frustrating for Pru. She is very kind and does not let on. It is frustrating for me, of course. We need each other.”
But they cherished her moments of lucidity, while viewers delighted in their affection and gentle ribbing.
With Pru’s speech and mobility failing, in 2019 they signed off with a tear-jerking trip to Oxford.
He said this year: “I would give anything to have the old Pru back. But the fact she doesn’t have to worry about anything very much is a crumb of comfort.”
Actress Dame Joanna Lumley said yesterday: “Timothy and Pru did an amazing job convincing people dementia was not something you should be always afraid of — rather something you could embrace and live with, and live with well.”
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TV
MAFS fans disgusted as Amy reveals shockingly inappropriate letter from Luke after their brutal split
MARRIED At First Sight’s Amy revealed the crude comment ex-husband Luke sent her on her birthday – leaving viewers in shock.
The couple parted ways at last night’s final vows with Amy brutally declaring their marriage “deceased”.
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Upset Luke didn’t lose hope though and sent Amy a turtle broach for a birthday gift after the show.
He told the boys that if she attended the reunion wearing it there could be hope for them to rekindle things, but if she didn’t then it would appear to be game over.
Needless to say, Amy didn’t wear the jewellery and coolly dismissed the present, with some viewers branding her cruel and cold.
However, when she revealed just why she was so angry with him, opinion shifted.
He allegedly sent her a note accompanying the gift, with a very concerning final line.
Amy recalled the contents of the letter: “I’ve been thinking about you. I miss you. I miss waking up next to you.
“It said ‘I keep saying no regrets. I keep having one regret. When you were cooking I wish I got down on my knees and terrorised your b*****e.”
“After that he said ‘PS write to me. I’d like that.”
The comment shocked just about everyone, with the experts branding it “inappropriate”.
Relationship expert Charlene Douglas said: “If Luke wants to win back Amy, he hasn’t gone about it the right way. She’s made it very clear she doesn’t like that sexual language.”
Amy then said: “I feel like I’m looking like a d***head being mean, but I’m sick of it, and that’s why at the final vows I thought f**k this.”
Viewers voiced their opinions on X, with one writing: “Luke, bro, no. You can’t tell someone you regret not ‘terrorising their b*****e’”
Another said: “I’d have phoned the police.”
A third wrote: “Why are men like this swear to god?”
A fourth said: “the b*****e comment is diabolical behaviour WHAT.”
Later in the episode, Amy asked Luke why he felt the relationship failed, to which he said “he hurt her trust badly” and they “misunderstood each other”.
Amy then thanked him for “owning that”.
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Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis has hit out at fans of the show who disliked the widely divisive third season, claiming that they didn’t “understand” it and “don’t have imaginations”.
Season 3, which aired in 2023, was accused by some of losing its way, despite receiving positive reviews from critics. Fans had criticised the show for having too many separate storylines and felt especially let down by the arcs for Juno Temple’s character Keeley Jones and Nick Mohammed’s Nathan Shelley.
In a new book about the Apple TV+ show called Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso, the Show That Kicked Its Way Into Our Hearts by Jeremy Egner, it is suggested that there was a “small but hostile crowd of dissenters” about the third season.
Although the criticism is brushed off by co-star Brendan Hunt as being “easily compartmentalised,” Sudeikis decided to make a more blunt point.
“Much like live theatre, the show, especially Season 3, was asking the audience to be an active participant,” the 49-year-old is quoted as saying. “Some people want to do that, some people don’t. Some people want to judge—they don’t want to be curious.”
He adds: “I’ll never understand people who will go on talking about something so brazenly that they, in my opinion, clearly don’t understand. And God bless ’em for it; it’s not their fault. They don’t have imaginations and they’re not open to the experience of what it’s like to have one.”
“Everybody’s in better shape than when they started,” the Emmy winner continues. “Like a good Boy or Girl Scout at a campsite, we left it better than we found it. And if you don’t see that in that show, then I don’t know what show you’re watching.”
Despite the backlash against the show, Ted Lasso season 3 still earned 21 nominations at the 2023 Emmy Awards but only won in two categories for Outstanding Guest Actor and Outstanding Original Music.
Meanwhile, the show looks set to receive a greenlight for its fourth season, according to reports.
US media states that Warner Bros Television has picked up the options for the three original cast members, Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein and Jeremy Swift.
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Waddingham stars in the show as AFC Richmond owner Rebecca Walton, while Goldstein plays hot-headed assistant coach Roy Kent. Swift is the meek director of football operations and father of five, Leslie Higgins.
TV
Watch the devastating moment Kristina breaks down in tears and storms out after reunion with Kieran
MARRIED At First Sight’s Kristina has pulled on the heartstrings of fans after she broke down in tears during an emotional reunion with Kieran.
Kristina came face-to-face with her ex-husband as the couples were brought back together for a special dinner party in the E4 show.
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But the dog walker found her emotions getting the better of her once Kieran entered the room.
The pair sat and had a brief chat, before Kristina began to cry.
She told her ex husband: “I have really struggled. I feel like now I’m still just trying to adjust.
“I still pinch myself where I think, I was married. Do you know what I mean?”
Kieran told Kristina: “I think I’m quite numb.”
She then asked if he was “ever 100 per cent in it”, adding: “I feel it hasn’t really left an impact on you.”
Kieran told his ex wife: “Just because I don’t get as emotional as you, doesn’t mean that I’m not feeling anything. It’s sad for me.”
Kristina started to cry as she said: “I feel like I put my life on the line for you but nothing stands out for you.”
She then stormed out of the room, closely followed by her girl pals.
Sitting out the back, Kristina told Emma, Sacha and Lacey: “I don’t want to cry.
“He’s so f***ing forgetful. What did this journey mean to you? Because it meant the f***ing world to me.”
Kieran was shown looking concerned before admitting: “I’ve got to watch how I tread. I hate seeing her upset, I hate it.
“I just feel bad for her, really f***ing bad.”
Once Kristina had calmed down, Kieran appeared and they sat down together for a chat.
He then tried to reassure his ex wife that he cares about her before apologising for upsetting her.
“If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t be here,” Kieran told her.
“I don’t want to see you upset. I just…I’m sorry you feel the way you feel.
“I’ve not given you the time you need or the attention you need and I’m sorry for that.”
Mafs couples that have stood the test of time
Loved-up Tayah Victoria and Adam Aveling of series six fame had the first Mafs baby.
The pair couldn’t keep their hands off each other on the programme and quickly found their feet in the outside world, moving into Adam’s Doncaster home.
Just 18 months after meeting, the couple welcomed their daughter Beau.
Season five couple Michelle Walder and Owen Jenkins also managed to make their marriage work away from the cameras and had their first child in December.
Teacher Michelle, 29, has no regrets about taking part in the experiment. She told us: “I just feel very lucky and thankful that it has worked out – and excited for everything to come.”
Michelle and Owen were both sick of dating apps when they applied in 2019.
Owen recalled: “I had been out for some drinks with a friend after work.
“While he was out for a cigarette I was scrolling on Instagram waiting for him to come back in.
“The MAFS advert was the last thing I saw, and I joked, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if I signed up?’
“A few beers later when I was back at home I sent in the application, and the rest is history.”
Another couple to make Mafs UK history is Zoe Clifton and Jenna Robinson.
Despite a slight rocky start, where they clashed over Jenna’s vegan lifestyle, the show’s first same sex pairing are still going strong.
They even have a successful podcast together called Life With a Pod.
Jenna shed light on being involved in the show earlier this year when she told us: “We’re not legally married, and I never felt like we were. I definitely feel the process makes you take the relationship a lot more seriously and having the help of the experts… if you can survive that process it sets a firm foundation for a long-lasting relationship.”
Kristina and Kieran quickly became fan favourites when the 2024 series of MAFS UK kicked off.
However, Kristina soon starting struggling with the lack of intimacy in their relationship.
Kieran later made the heartbreaking confession that “the spark had gone” and they split during a commitment ceremony.
Meanwhile, Kristina was left crying for a second time during the reunion episode on Wednesday night.
Kieran admitted he had briefly dated someone new after their split.
One viewer wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “The fact he dated someone right after the experiment was over shows how little he cares about Kristina.”
Another added: “I really feel for Kristina man. She loved Kieran.”
And a third chimed in: “Ohh god I feel for Kristina.”
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In an effort to relate to working-class Americans, Whoopi Goldberg has revealed that she too struggles with money.
The 69-year-old Oscar winner and co-host of ABC’sThe View admitted during a recent episode of the popular daytime talk show that she can’t afford to stop working. “I appreciate that people are having a hard time. Me, too. I work for a living,” Goldberg said on Tuesday (November 12). “If I had all the money in the world, I would not be here, okay? So, I’m a working person, you know?”
“My kid has to feed her family. My great-granddaughter has to be fed by her family. I know it’s hard out there,” the Sister Act star added.
Goldberg – who rose to fame in the 1980s as a comedian, before landing breakthrough roles in both film and on Broadway – has hosted The View since 2007. While she has cemented herself as one of the most prominent figures in television, Goldberg’s career successes span far beyond the daytime talk show. In fact, she’s one of the few recipients of an Emmy Award, Grammy Award, Academy Award, and Tony Award – collectively known as the EGOT.
The New York native, born in 1955 as Caryn Elaine Johnson, came from humble beginnings. Her mother, Emma Johnson, was a nurse and a teacher while her father, Robert James Johnson Jr, was a Baptist clergyman. She was raised in the public housing project Chelsea-Elliot Houses in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea.
After dropping out of high school at age 17, Goldberg moved to California in the 1970s where she worked odd jobs such as a waitress, bank teller, bricklayer, and a mortuary cosmetologist. While living in Berkeley, she joined the city’s oldest theater troupe, the Blake Street Hawkeyes, and developed her 1983 one-woman show, The Spook Show.
It was there that director Mike Nichols discovered Goldberg and became a mentor for the comedian as they developed her show for Broadway. The show, retitled to Whoopi Goldberg, ran from October 1984 to March 1985. According to Broadway World, the show earned $1,973,901 over its 156 performances. Her show was also taped for an HBO special, titled Whoopi Goldberg: Direct from Broadway, for which Goldberg was credited as producer through her company, Whoop Inc.
The audio recording of Goldberg’s one-woman show earned her the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in 1986, the first Black female comedian to win the recognition. While Goldberg went on to star in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 1996, her theater career has since progressed far beyond acting. In 2002, she won the Tony Award for producing the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie, a Broadway smash hit that reportedly made back around 80 percent of its $9.5 million capitalization during its two-year run.
While Goldberg got her start on the stage, she has since become one of the most prolific on-screen actors of all time. During performances of her one-woman Broadway show, she caught the attention of filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who offered her the lead role of Celie in 1985’s The Color Purple – her film debut. The Color Purple, based on the novel by Alice Walker, became a critical and commercial success, grossing more than $98.4m at the worldwide box office. The movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including a nomination for Goldberg as Best Actress. She ultimately won the Golden Globe for her role as Celie, once again becoming the first Black woman to win the category.
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Goldberg made history yet again in 1990 when she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as psychic Oda Mae Brown in Ghost. The Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze classic became the highest-grossing movie of the year, earning more than $505m worldwide.
Perhaps one of her best-known roles is Deloris Van Cartier, a lounge singer who goes undercover as a nun to escape the mob, in the 1992 musical comedy Sister Act. The film made $139.6m at the U.S. box office, grossing $231.6m worldwide. In 1993, Sister Act was named the most rented film across the country.
The movie even spawned a successful franchise, so much so that Goldberg was able to negotiate a salary for Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit between an estimated $7m and $12m – making Goldberg the highest-paid actress in Hollywood at the time. The sequel grossed about $60m in the U.S. and almost $100m worldwide.
Throughout the 1990s to 2000s, Goldberg made several appearances in film, notably voicing Shenzi the hyena in Disney’s 1994 animated classic The Lion King – the third-highest earning animated film in history, grossing $968.5m worldwide.
On television, Goldberg appeared in five seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, co-starred with Jean Stapleton in Bagdad Cafe, and hosted her own syndicated late-night talk show, The Whoopi Goldberg Show.
In 2007, Goldberg joined The View as moderator and panelist, alongside creator Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. In a 2016 report from Variety, Goldberg’s one-year contract was estimated to be worth between $5m-$6m.
Aside from her role as an entertainer, Goldberg has also made a fortune as an entrepreneur. In 2022, she launched her brand of cannabis products, Emma & Clyde, named after her late mother and brother. She also co-founded a line of holistic menstrual relief products, Whoopi & Maya, in 2016, though it ceased operations four years later. After parting ways with a former business partner, Goldberg announced in July 2024 that Whoopi & Maya was being revived under her WhoopFam company.
Following her move to California in the 1980s, Goldberg purchased a Victorian-style house built in the 1890s for just $335,000. In 2015, she sold the two-story home for $1.275m after owning it for 30 years. Goldberg then moved to the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, where she lived for another two decades before selling the five-bedroom home for $8.8m in February 2018. She also purchased a rustic vacation home in Vermont in 2003 for $950,000. Goldberg reportedly listed the historic property in November 2012 for $1.5m.
After landing her gig on The View, Goldberg relocated back to New York City, where she bought a full-floor loft in SoHo for $4m. She sold the two-bedroom apartment in 2010 for just under $3m. In a search for more privacy, Goldberg moved to the New Jersey suburbs, purchasing a $2.8m mansion in the gated community of Llewellyn Park.
Goldberg has been married three times. Her first marriage was in 1973 to drug counselor Alvin Martin, though they parted ways in 1979. She was later married to cinematographer David Claessen from 1986 to 1988, and tied the knot with union organizer Lyle Trachtenberg in 1994, though their union lasted only one year.
She welcomed her only child, daughter Alexandrea Martin, with her first husband in 1974 when she was just 18 years old. Goldberg’s daughter, who also became an actor and producer, has since given the actor three grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.
Earlier this year, Goldberg shared that she will be bequeathing “everything” to her now 50-year-old daughter during a May episode of The View.
“One of the great answers is children learn by what they see,” Goldberg said at the time. “My mother worked her behind off and so that’s why I feel the way I feel and I’m leaving my kid everything that I have.”
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