Thanks to Helen (Whoopifan) from Ireland for typing this up!
As Whoopi Goldberg get's older, she's become more interested in life off-screen....
From nun to physic to incest victim, Whoopi Goldberg has played many parts in her time. But these days she preferrs the role of grandma to Hollywood's leading lady. She turned 46 on November 13th, the day she finally got her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And as she sits in a nearby hotel suite, she talks about how her priorities are changing as she grows older. When asked what the best thing about closing in on 50 is, she doesn't hesitate.
Whoopi: Grandkids!
Whoopi's 27 year old daughter Alex has 3 children - two girls and a little boy. Whoopi admits she could have been a better parent to Alex and is trying to make up for these shortcomings by spending as much time as possible with the grandchildren.
Whoopi: Confronting being a parent is only something I've done recently. I'm not a nurturing type of person. I'm a great pal but now I believe you can't just be a friend to your child. You've got to make the decisions, You have to be the person in charge. In my attempt to be what my mother wasn't--flexible--I might have been too much of a pal.
Whoopi says her mum did give her some very important advice.
Whoopi: She told me you can do and be anything if you're willing to deal with how other people respond to you. I was willing to take whatever anybody would dish out for the right to be myself. Some people told me, maybe you ought to fix you're face, maybe you should lose weight, or change your hair, or don't do television. But I'd just say Yeah! and keep on going.
That's the kind of homespun wisdom she hopes to pass down to her grandchildren.
Whoopi: My five year old granddaughter asks me some tough questions. She asked me if she was going to live through school. I thought that was a very strange question from someone so young, but when you think about it, after the events of September 11th, that's their real life. That's part of what they have to think about these days. So I've been saying, let's bring back all the Heidi movies and the Shirley Temple movies. Let's have some fantasy. I want to keep kids as kids. That's my new thing.
Whoopi spends as much time as possible with her grandchildren.
Whoopi: I'm at the place where I only want to work three weeks on any given movie, no more.
Which explains why she only had a small role in her latest film Rat Race. In the film, a group of billionaires persuade a group of strangers to race from Las Vegas to New Mexico to retrieve $2 million hidden in a locker. What the contestants don't know is that the rich friends are betting on the outcome.
Whoopi: The part had to be short enough to keep my interest and pay me well enough so I didn't feel I was doing it for nothing. I had to feel there was a possibility we could have a good time doing it. That's all im interested in. I don't want the headache. I don't want to be the star.
Not that she's being idle. Last summer she did a stand-up tour of 25 American cities returning to her comedy roots. And she does like to laugh. Whoopi says she loves the English sense of humour and had fun on the set of Rat Race.
Whoopi: John Cleese and Rowan Atkinson made me laugh. We'd be sitting on this bus and somebody would start with and it would just go and go and go. It's been a long time since I've had that kind of experience, where it's not up to me to make it happen.
Whoopi Plays a blonde in the film out this week, but she says it made no difference whatsoever.
Whoopi: I didn't get any reaction from men. (she shrugs)
But doesn't Whoopi, who once dated handsome Cheers star Ted Danson, long to be cast in a love scene with a hot Hollywood hunk?
Whoopi: I have steamy love scenes at home, so I don't need to put them in the movies. (she laughs) I'd rather do sci-fi, keep the man, give me the monster, that's my attitude.
But Whoopi won't reveal who her mystery man might be. She split with actor Frank Langella, 62, in March 2000, after five years together. Now she feels she's earned a right to some privacy.
Whoopi: It's hard enough to have a relationship, but to have a relationship under a microscope is even harder.