Whoopi Goldberg got emotional as she and her co-hosts celebrated her 60th birthday on The View on Friday and also took a moment to honor a late friend loved by millions.
She was joined by two surprise celebrity friends, Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal. Goldberg had worked with the latter and fellow stand-up performer Robin Williams on several televised Comic Relief comedy fundraisers in the '80s. Williams died at age 63 in 2014.
"I want to thank two people that I...I'm so much better for knowing and that's Billy and Robin," Goldberg said, after being presented with a patriotic-themed birthday cake, "They're my...my loves and my hearts and so, I, you know, he's always with us, I think."
"And of course I told you already that Bob is family," she said, talking about De Niro. "And so is Billy and so are you guys and it's just really great to be here, so Mazel Tov. Happy birthday to me."
During the show, she was also joined by Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse performers and was made an honorary Mousketeer. The View airs on ABC, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company.
Other celebrities wished Goldberg a happy birthday via video. The star-studded roster included Jimmy Fallon, Elton John and husband David Furnish and Steven Spielberg, who directed the actress in the 1985 Oscar-nominated film The Color Purple.
"You remember Whoopi on The Color Purple, you were aging a lot in the movie and I wanted to put all this prosthetic makeup on you to really make you look like you were 60?" he said. "And you kept saying to me, 'Black don't crack,' and I kept saying to you, 'What?' You said, 'Black don't crack. I don't want to wear all those prosthetics.' We found a compromise. We did a little bit of work on your neck and a little bit of work around your eyes."
"But, all these years later, now that you're turning 60, I was wrong and you were right!" he said.