Whoopi Goldberg iced-out her formerly dark brunette dreadlocks! It wasn’t a spur of the moment hair makeover — ‘The View’ host underwent the change for a new television role.
Whoopi Goldberg, 63, caught co-host Joy Behar, 76, off-guard when she showed up to The View with white dreadlocks on Sept. 18. It was quite the change, considering that we’ve only seen the EGOT-winner with brunette hair since starring in The Color Purple in 1985! “We gotta talk about your hair, I can’t take it anymore,” Joy blurted out on The View, and Whoopi explained what spurred such a dramatic hair makeover.
“I’m doing The Stand for CBS,” Whoopi said on The View, referring to the upcoming television miniseries adapted from Stephen King’s novel about a post-apocalyptic world divided between good and evil. Whoopi explained that she’s playing a character, Mother Abigail, who is “over 100” (108 years old, to be exact). The late Ruby Dee first took on the role in the original TV adaptation in 1994!
Whoopi’s grateful that ABC is letting her venture outside of The View. “Kudos to ABC [The View’s network], who is allowing me to go and do what my first love is,” Whoopi said on her talk show, giving a shout-out to her network. Joining Whoopi on The Stand will be Alexander Skarsgård, James Marsden, Amber Heard, Jovan Adepo, Marilyn Manson and Greg Kinnear, and the remake is set to premiere in 2020.
If you think this is a big change, Whoopi teased that fans are in for another surprise! “You haven’t seen me painted up yet. I’ll have you wait to see what she looks like, it’s kind of amazing what these guys have done with my face,” Whoopi continued on Wednesday’s episode of The View. “She’s gonna look like an old lady, a very, very, very, old lady. Very, very, very old.”
Whoopi’s last live-action TV role was on the CBS crime thriller Instinct, which was cancelled after its two-season run ended in Aug. 2019. That same year, she lent her voice to the animated TV series Summer Camp Island and The Stinky & Dirty Show.