Whoopi Goldberg – actress and cohost of The View – is launching her cannabis brand, Emma & Clyde, in select stores on July 20. The celebrity’s latest business venture has a very personal backstory.
Goldberg told Forbes on Wednesday, June 26, that “Cannabis is probably the greatest medicine on the planet that everybody can have,” and added that, “For people like me, it was always used to stop the [menstrual] cramps – and the side hustle of that is that it was fun, it made you laugh and stuff.”
She told how she decided to name the brand Emma & Clyde, partly based on her late mother, Emma Harris, and her brother, Clyde K. Johnson.
“Emma & Clyde is named after my family because my mother used cannabis for medicinal purposes. And my brother liked the recreational. They are two people that represent weed as it stands in the real world,” Goldberg told the outlet.
The actress—an EGOT winner known for roles such as Sister Act and The Color Purple—described the days when she used to smoke with her brother when it was still taboo.
“My brother and I used to smoke in the days when it was just something that you could do under the tree in the backyard when nobody could see you,” Whoopi said. “And I know that he would love this idea that you can go and get what you need medicinally. You can go and get what you need recreationally.”
Launching her new cannabis business is not the only thing Whoopi has been working on recently. In May, she released her latest memoir, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me. In the book, Goldberg, who is a mother to daughter Alex Martin, opened up about experiencing grief and finding her footing in life before achieving Hollywood stardom.
“I was insanely lucky. I was really lucky that I was my mother’s child because I was the correct child for her to have,” Whoopi said when reflecting on her upbringing amid the book’s release in May. “Both my brother and I, we were just odd. We liked different stuff. We were open to many, many things. You know, you grew up here in New York City, and you had access to lots of things. And so, my mother’s attitude was, you’re in a place where you can do and see just about anything. So, what do you want to do? Who are you? Who do you think you are? I just always felt like I was quite lucky to have her.”
While the book was promoted on The View and discussed on the show’s podcast, “Behind the Table,” sources told Closer that the Goldberg was “devastated” by sales.
“Despite a whirlwind of publicity, the book has shockingly landed at number 800 on the bestseller list after just a few weeks,” the insider said.
The source added, “Whoopi is devastated by the flop, questioning how such a high-profile release could fall so flat. She thought she’d be as successful as Prince Harry and Britney Spears and even hoped it would be turned into a movie — but that’s unlikely to happen after such disappointing sales!” Goldberg is hopeful for greater success with Emma & Clyde.
