Heartbroken: Whoopi Goldberg, 69, Absent From ‘The View’ Due To Illness…See More

Whoopi Goldberg has been a co-host of The View since 2007, and it’s not uncommon for her to be out for one reason or another, but her latest absence was unexpected and unannounced.

The 69-year-old actress was recently missing from her moderator seat during an episode of The View. Fans of the daytime talk show were surprised to see Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin with Whoopi missing during the Wednesday, February 19 episode. Behar, 82, stood in as moderator for the episode and revealed why she was covering for Whoopi and why she couldn’t make it.

Unfortunately, I know you’ll be unhappy, but Whoopi is not here with us,” she told the audience before explaining, “She has the flu.” Behar also had a message for Whoopi in case she was watching and said, “Feel better, Whoops. We miss you. Come back as soon as you can.”

Whoopi’s other co-host, Alyssa Farah Griffin, 35, weighed in after Behar made a comment about the flu “going around” and suggested that viewers “sanitize [their] hands” and “wash them [for] 20 seconds.” Sara Haines, 47, chimed in and jokingly recommended folks not “go around children.”

The Sister Act star’s absence came as a surprise after she appeared on the Tuesday, February 18 episode of the talk show but didn’t mention that she would be out the following day. Whoopi is usually off on Fridays and will typically let her viewers know ahead of time if she will be missing.

The EGOT winner most recently made headlines after revealing why she never hosted Saturday Night Live on Sunday, February 16, during a red carpet interview at SNL50: The Anniversary Special.

It required a week, it required you to sit with people and write sketches, and I didn’t really have the time. And I didn’t want to do that, I’d been doing that for years,” Whoopi told viewers before she added, “I just wanted to work on my own

Considering that Whoopi is off on Fridays and she is off today, fans can probably expect to see her back in action on The View sometime next week at best, as long as she feels like she’s up to it.