Whoopi Goldberg is continuing to support Kelly Clarkson after their heart-to-heart on The Kelly Clarkson Show went viral. Goldberg — who spoke about Clarkson’s weight loss journey and her own on the May 13 episode of Clarkson’s talk show — defended Clarkson on The View after she received some unexpected backlash from their candid chat.

On today’s episode of The View, Goldberg hit back at critics who claimed Clarkson hadn’t been truthful about her weight loss. While the American Idol alum did not tell viewers what medication she was taking on her show, she did say, “everyone thinks it’s Ozempic but it’s not. It’s something else.”

(Editor’s Note: The View is currently on hiatus; contrary to what you may have heard, The View was not canceled today. This article was originally published on May 15, 2024 when this episode first aired. The View will return with new episodes in September.)

Goldberg said today that Clarkson’s admission had irked some fans, who called her out for previously attributing her weight loss to exercise.

“Kelly is getting backlash over this from people who say she previously claims she was losing weight by walking. Here’s a point about that: lot of people are taking this shot because they need it,” Goldberg, who is taking the weight loss drug Mounjaro, said on The View. “Some people need bodies jumpstarted, some have diabetes, there’s lots of reasons. She has been walking. But this has helped.”

Goldberg continued, “I don’t know why, because they kick her behind when she’s bigger, they kick her behind when she’s lost the weight. And now they’re kicking her behind because she said it out loud. Maybe she was more comfortable hearing somebody say, you know, ‘That’s what I did.’”
Whoopi Goldberg Photo: ABC
While appearing on Clarkson’s show earlier in the month, Goldberg opened up about her own weight loss, telling the host that she was 300 pounds before taking Mounjaro, and recalling the moment when a reporter incorrectly claimed she had been wearing a fat suit for her role in 2022’s Till.

“I made a movie and a woman thought I was wearing a fat suit … I was indignant! I was like, this is not a fat suit, this is me! And then I saw me … I thought well, yeah, it does look like I’m wearing a fat suit,” Goldberg told Clarkson.

Goldberg also said that she’d lost the weight of “almost two people” and praised Mounjaro as a “wonderful shot” that has been “really good” for her.