Whoopi Goldberg Gets Candid About Life Without a Partner: ‘Not Everybody’s Cut Out to Be In a Relationship’

Mar 25, 2026 by apost team

Whoopi Goldberg has never been shy about her views on relationships — and at 70, she's more settled in those views than ever. The EGOT winner has been married three times — to Alvin Martin, David Claessen, and Lyle Trachtenberg — and shares a daughter, Alexandrea Martin, with her first husband. Despite those relationships ending, Goldberg has made it clear that there are no hard feelings on any side.

"I'm in touch with every one of them, because once they were my friends," Goldberg said in October 2024 to PEOPLE. "It doesn't mean that we talk all the time, but I will be respectful enough for you."

She was equally direct about what that respect looks like in practice. "I don't have to sleep with you, I don't have to eat with you. But I can be (friendly), because there's nobody that I've lived with or messed with that I absolutely hate."

Her feelings about why those marriages ultimately didn't work for her are just as candid. Reflecting on her past during a 2025 episode of “The View,” she put it plainly: "I was always having great sex, I just wasn't having any fun."

And in a May 2024 appearance on "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?" she went even further. "When you're married to somebody, you have to be invested in how they're feeling. I am not," she said, laughing. "I don't care how you feel. It's terrible."

But her independence, she's quick to point out, has never meant isolation. "I'm invested in my kid. I'm invested in her kids. I'm invested in my son-in-law. I'm invested in my friends," she said. "But I'm not invested in a relationship that would require as much as having a child requires."

That philosophy has only deepened with time. In a recent conversation with Interview Magazine, Goldberg reflected on what years of self-awareness have taught her. She said:

"In the last 25 years, I recognized that not everybody's cut out to be in a relationship. Some people are just cut out to be one-night stands."

Her living situation, she added, is non-negotiable:

"I don't want to live with anybody. I have lots of people that I love, but I don't need them living with me. I don't need to be sleeping with them."

The conversation came up again on the March 18, 2026, episode of “The View,” during a discussion about a Cosmopolitan essay in which a woman in a happy long-term relationship admitted to missing the spontaneity of her single days. Goldberg didn't just relate — she raised her hand. Co-host Joy Behar asked whether Goldberg personally missed that chapter of her life. The answer stopped the table. "I am single," Goldberg replied. "I bar hop, I go hang."

And for anyone wondering just how content she really is living life on her own terms — she made that crystal clear too. "I do hit-and-runs when I need it," she said, "but I am not married to anybody (and) I don't have responsibilities." At 70, with an EGOT, a thriving family, and a life built entirely around her own rules, Whoopi Goldberg doesn't seem to be missing a single thing.

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Are you a fan of Whoopi Goldberg? Do you think more women should feel free to live life on their own terms without the pressure of being in a relationship? Let us know in the comments and pass this on to your family, friends, and other Whoopi Goldberg fans out there!