Claims Whoopi Goldberg lost a Los Angeles mansion because of wildfire started as satire

Celebrities were among those who lost their homes in wildfires still burning in greater Los Angeles. But claims that ABC’s "The View" cohost Whoopi Goldberg’s house was destroyed originated on a self-described satire site.

"Whoopi Goldberg’s mansion in Los Angeles was destroyed in a wildfire, with damages estimated at millions of dollars," a Jan. 15 Facebook post said. 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

An undated blog post about the purported destruction shared in the Facebook post’s comments provides no evidence for the claim. After supposedly quoting Goldberg, the post goes a step further: It alleges that she died. She didn’t. 

A day after this Facebook post appeared online, Goldberg appeared on her daytime talk show "The View."

On Jan. 10, five days before the Facebook post appeared online, Esspots, a website that publishes fabricated stories, posted one with a headline nearly identical to the text in the Facebook post: "Whoopi Goldberg’s home burnt in latest Los Angeles wildfire, damage estimated in millions." 

In bold at the bottom of the story is a caveat: "Note: This is SATIRE, it’s not TRUE." But the Facebook post resharing the headline did not include that disclaimer.

Architectural Digest reported in 2022 that in the 1990s, Goldberg bought a $2.5-million house in the Palisades, where one of the wildfires is still burning. But she sold it for $8.8 million in 2018.

We looked for but found no other credible evidence, such as public statements from Goldberg or news reports, that she had a Los Angeles mansion destroyed by fires. 

We rate this claim False.