Why Whoopi Goldberg Was ‘Dancing and Prancing Around’ After Her 3 Divorces

To most people, divorce is not easy; nor is it fun. However, when someone is married to the wrong person, getting a divorce might feel like somewhat of a relief. And for Whoopi Goldberg, who has been married three times, her three divorces left her “dancing and prancing” when they were finalized.

Whoopi Goldberg has been married three times

Goldberg has had three husbands in her lifetime; all of the relationships wound up in divorce. Her first marriage was in 1973 to Alvin Martin, a drug counselor to whom she remained married for six years. Then, seven years later, Goldberg married once more. She wed David Claessen, a cinematographer, back in 1986, but the marriage was even more short-lived than her first. The pair divorced in 1988. And another six years after that, Goldberg walked down the aisle with Lyle Trachtenberg, to whom she had the shortest marriage; the pair wed in 1994 and divorced in 1995.

During an episode of The View, Joy Behar and Alyssa Farrah Griffin were talking about the difficulties that come with divorce, with both women agreeing that the feelings were incredibly hard to deal with. However, Goldberg chimed in to explain that she was so happy when each of her three marriages ended.

“I was dancing and prancing around, I was so glad to get out of there,” Goldberg said of her divorces. “Every time. Because I always thought, ‘You didn’t want to do this from the giddy-up. And you knew you didn’t want to do it and you did it anyway, so shut up and move on.’”

Goldberg also explained why she chose to marry the men despite knowing in her gut that she shouldn’t have. “I thought I could make a round hole go into a square peg. I thought that was what was for me. I was never meant to be married.” Goldberg also said she “knew that” when she went through with each of the marriages but decided to wed anyway. “And then it was like, ‘You know what, this is getting expensive and boring.’”

Whoopi Goldberg has dated other men but not married them

Goldberg might have been married three times, but she has dated other men who she did not end up walking down the aisle with. The TV host and comedian dated Ted Danson in the 1990s; they dated for about a year before she met and married Trachtenberg. She also dated Frank Langella for about five years, from 1996 to 2001.

Goldberg’s most recent relationship actually ended nearly 20 years ago. Back in 2001, Goldberg began dating corporate executive Michal Visbal. The two dated from 2001 to 2005 before calling it quits, and since then, Goldberg has mostly remained out of the relationship spotlight. It seems that once that last relationship ended, Goldberg opted not to pursue anyone else. It’s possible she knew she never wanted to be married and figured it was not worth getting into a long-term relationship if she didn’t see herself walking down the aisle again.