“Dating Her is Like Wearing Hot Lava.”: These Wild Facts About Celebrities Left Us Speechless

Whoopi Goldberg has had one of the most varied careers in entertainment, from The Color Purple to Ghost to daytime television. But before fame, she had a job that sounds completely unlike the Hollywood path people imagine. Goldberg worked as a mortuary cosmetologist, doing hair and makeup for the deceased.

It is a strange detail, but it also says something about her nerves. Long before she was performing in front of millions, she was doing work most people would find deeply unsettling. That unusual background makes her confidence on screen feel a little less mysterious, because apparently, Whoopi had seen plenty before Hollywood ever called.