Whoopi Goldberg thinks people "forget" that she is an actress

Speaking on 'The View', she said: "I haven't done this in a while and it was interesting for me to see how it worked but one of the things that people forget is that I am, first and foremost, an actor.

"I was fortunate to get this gig when I needed it when I really needed it. Barbara Walters and Joy [Behar] put me in here. And it's been wonderful, but I am an actor.

"I missed it but I also realised that it's been a while since I've done it. I have to weigh it out. I don't like to leave them in the lurch and disappear and go stuff. "But the older I'm getting, I wanna get back to that."

The EGOT winner - who starred as Mother Superior in the West End production of 'Sister Act' 2010 and won a Tony Award when she produced 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' on Broadway in 2002 and it was named Best New Musical - was keen to remind viewers that while they may be "angry" at the opinions she sometimes puts across, appearing as herself on a talk show is not the sole purpose of her career.

She said: "I say that to remind folks at home, and particularly people who I am and why I am the way I think, or are very angry at me oftentimes because of the things that I say...you're hearing from an actor person who is living a life, doing what she's supposed to be doing. This is not all I do, this is not all I am but it's a great part of it."