NYWIFT Blog

#SummerHours Summer Reading: Whoopi Goldberg

Goodbye, winter caps—hello, summer hats! It’s that glorious time of year where many of us can switch from content creators to content consumers. NYWIFT members Mellini Kantayya and Kathryn O’Kane have put together #SummerHours, a series of fun summer books, movies, and TV shows by or about women.


By Kathryn O’Kane

I get to hear from a lot of different people about relationships and this got me trying to figure out why the divorce rate is SO high. It occurred to me that as one who has done it badly often, I might have some insight.

— If Someone Says ‘You Complete Me,’ Run! Whoopi’s Big Book of Relationships 

Goldberg book

Whoopi Goldberg (NYWIFT Muse Honoree ’03) is a distinguished artist, humanitarian, and very funny person. Like fellow Muse Honoree Rita Moreno (’96), Goldberg is one of only 12 performers to win all four major artistic awards: the Oscar, the Emmy, the Grammy and the Tony. She is currently a host of the talk show The View.

Ms. Goldberg wrote the 2015 book, If Someone Says ‘You Complete Me,’ Run! Whoopi’s Big Book of Relationships, as a response to a recurring issue on her show —  what she sees as the lack of self-care among her audience.

“Women seem to think that they don’t have time or can’t spend time working on themselves or deepening their relationships with themselves.”

The result is a lighthearted look at relationships in Ms. Goldberg’s singular voice, which disguises a more serious question: “Are you a fully realized person? If they [your partner] complete you, they can deconstruct you, too.”

Whoopi Goldberg2

No topic is off limits and all are delivered with a sense of humor and the ease of conversation, including:

  • Why get into a relationship?
  • How do you deal with your partner’s friends when they are scum bags?
  • How to be friends with your ex.
  • How do you tell your friend “Girl?!” without being mean about her relationship?

Do yourself a favor and listen to the audiobook read by the author.  If you close your eyes, it’s as if Ms. Goldberg is dishing advice over coffee.

(Cover photo by Bridgette Matthews)
PUBLISHED BY

busyk

busyk Kathryn O’Kane is a director and producer with over 20 years of experience in television and advertising. She directed season 2 of the Emmy nominated series The World According to Jeff Goldblum for Disney+. She was the showrunner of the James Beard award-winning Netflix series Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, and she produced six seasons of the Emmy award-winning series Friday Night Tykes. Her episodes of Iconoclasts for Sundance and Oprah Presents Masterclass for OWN have won NAACP Imagine awards. Kathryn has crafted short form narratives as diverse as Mission Juno for NASA, segments of AMC’s Talking Dead, and commercial assignments for Apple, Meta, United Airlines, and SAP. Kathryn served two terms on the board of New York Women in Film and Television, championing equal pay, diversity and inclusion, and safety in the workplace. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America and Television Academy. Learn more at www.busyk.com.

View all posts by busyk

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