Whoopi Goldberg Weighed ‘Almost 300 Lbs While Filming ‘Till’ in 2021

Whoopi Goldberg got candid about what inspired her recent weight loss.

During a discussion about the Monday, March 18, ABC special Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution, Goldberg, 68, revealed her own journey with body image.

“I weighed almost 300 pounds when I made Till,” Goldberg said on the Tuesday, March 19, episode of The View. “I had taken all those steroids, I was on all this stuff.”

Goldberg, who played Emmett Till’s grandmother Alma Carthan in the movie, was referring to the steroids she was forced to take after being hospitalized due to sciatica complications in June 2021.

The Sister Act star admitted her weight had “gone up and down” over the years, but she had never paid any mind because “I don’t listen to what other people say about me.”

However, Goldberg said that all changed once she saw herself in Till, which began filming in September 2021 and was released the following year.

“I had always just felt like me,” she explained. “And then I saw me and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s a lot of me.’”

Goldberg divulged she used the antidiabetic medication Mounjaro to help her “drop the weight.”

The View cohost Sunny Hostin revealed she also used the drug, which is commonly prescribed to help with weight loss, after she gained 40 pounds during the coronavirus pandemic.

“I love to cook, and I found out I love to eat,” Hostin, 55, said of her weight gain. “I was horrified by the fact that I would have to come out on air.”

After being honest about her use of Mounjaro, Hostin said she received “hate emails” from people who accused her of “taking the drug away from diabetics.”

“There is shame when you’ve gained weight,” Hostin admitted. “I had never experienced that kind of shame before.”

Hostin praised the candidness of the special, which pointed out that obesity is a disease.

“If someone has diabetes and they’re being treated for diabetes, it’s fine,” Hostin said. “When someone has some sort of cardiac disease, that’s fine. They’re not shamed for it. But when someone is obese, they are shamed for it.”

With the help of Mounjaro, Hostin said she has reduced her cholesterol level from 200 to 140, which has led to positive changes in all aspects of her life.

“I feel better, I look better,” she said. “That’s what this is about for people.”