Endless Love

Ross, Goldberg on Celebrity Motherhood



By BARBARA WALTERS



Everyone knows Diana Ross as the flamboyant knockout who's been the very definition of star power for more than 40 years. And Whoopi Goldberg has had millions crying and laughing in films like The Color Purple, Ghost and Sister Act.

But I recently got to know different sides of both Diana and Whoopi when I spoke to them, along with their children, as part of the 20/20 Mother's Day special.

Ross and Her Five Children

In 1971, Diana married Robert Silberstein, an artist manager. Within four years, she'd given birth to three girls; within six, the couple had divorced. Nearly a decade later, Diana walked down the aisle in a fairy-tale wedding to Arne Naess, a Norwegian shipping magnate. Well into her 40s, she then gave birth to two sons.

Rhonda, now 30, is married and runs her mother's production company. She also works as an actress and singer. Her siblings say she's a little bossy, but they don't seem to mind. Rhonda says she inherited that trait from the man who she learned (at age 13) was her father: Motown founder Berry Gordy, Diana's mentor and former lover.

Tracee, 29, co-stars in the UPN comedy Girlfriends. Chudney, the quietest one, is 27 and an aspiring filmmaker; she lives in Aspen, Colo., where she works as a ski instructor. And then there's sons Ross, 14, and Evan, 13.

Now in her 50s, Diana is again divorced. She is raising her two teenage sons in Greenwich, Conn.

"My house is like camp," says Diana. "I never say no to any of their friends. … Everybody comes over to eat at our house, because we have a great snack bar."

"A lot of my friends come to the house and they're worried to meet her," says Evan. "[But] she's just a normal mom."

Even at the peak of her career with The Supremes and her successful solo run, motherhood was Diana's top priority — something her kids confirm.

"She's very much a mom," says Tracee.

Growing up, recalls Chudney, "We always used to have dinner together."

"And there were no phone calls during dinner," says Rhonda. "There was no television during dinner."

Diana traveled the world, managing her skyrocketing career, while at the same time, with the help of her mother, raising her daughters.

"Mom wouldn't leave for longer than a week," says Tracee, pointing out that their mother was always reachable. "Mom recorded at night while we were sleeping and then would wake us up for breakfast in the morning."

Diana knows how lucky she is. "I've just been very blessed," she says. "I've been very blessed with these children."

I was close, I thought Roberta75 was Ian Phelps. Hello, my dear....I have 5 Uncles,  9 brothers and 45 male cousins, and 37 nephews.

Pathetic. This has to be an indication of age and inactivity of the posters in this forum + maniacal obsession for Miss Ross.