Whoopi Goldberg says her calling in life is helping people on 'The View'.

The 64-year-old actress has been part of the talk show since 2007, and has said that whilst she'd love to return to acting in the future, she believes right now she's ''supposed'' to be on 'The View' where she can help people.

Speaking to Howard Stern for his SiriusXM show, Whoopi - who is set to star in Stephen King's drama miniseries 'The Stand', but hasn't had a film role since 2018 - said: ''You have to have people ask you to master things. I have 'The Stand' coming up, it's kind of fabulous. Things come up and I think my time has been spread.

''I guess I'm supposed to be doing this right now.

''I guess I'm supposed to be in this chair every day saying, 'Listen, we do not have to buy into fear or panic. We can master this if we do it together.' Somebody needs to stand up when the person in the White House says, 'Hey, maybe we should ingest some bleach.'

''Sure, I'd like to be making a movie and I'm sure I will again.''

Meanwhile, Whoopi revealed last year she feels ''very, very lucky'' to be alive after being hospitalised for almost a month.

The 'Sister Act' star fell ill with what she thought was a cold in 2018, but in February 2019, she was diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs, as well as potentially-fatal sepsis, which can lead to tissue damage and organ failure.

She said: ''I'm very, very lucky.

''The doctor told me, 'Listen, you're not going anywhere tomorrow and you're not going anywhere next week because you are really sick.''

While in hospital, Whoopi underwent thoracentesis twice, a procedure to drain the lungs in which a needle is inserted in the space between the organs and the chest wall to remove fluid.

She added at the time: ''It's going to be a while before I'm back to 100 percent. It really took me down, but I'm getting there.

''I've cut down a lot of the stuff that I would normally be doing and I have to rest.

''There's no getting around it. In the morning I go and do the show, then afterward I have my other work, and by 3 o'clock, I have to sit down. I have to stop. It's taking a little while, but I'm getting there.''