Whoopi Goldberg details the darkest parts of her life in her new book Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me .

Her latest memoir is dedicated to her late mother, Emma Harris, and her late brother, Clyde K. Johnson, who passed away in 2010 and 2015, respectively.

In her memoir, the Nuns star wrote: “My father and mother were separated, so I grew up with my mother. My mother tried to get him to pay some child support through the courts, but she couldn’t afford a lawyer to do it.”

Whoopi Goldberg’s new memoir is out May 7Despite the hardships, Whoopi Goldberg’s mother refused to apply for welfare because she didn’t like the stigma. “I saw my mother cry once or twice because she couldn’t pay her taxes,” Goldberg added.

Whoopi Goldberg recalled her mother disappearing for two years when she was 8 years old. She later learned that her mother had been hospitalized and given electroshock therapy, which made her forget her two children. “It was only later that I learned that my mother had been taken to Bellevue Hospital for a nervous breakdown,” she wrote. “She had been acting strange for a few months, as if she wanted to be alone and not worry about me and Clyde.”

Whoopi Goldberg (left) and her mother

The 68-year-old star wrote that she only understood her mother’s situation as an adult. In an interview with PEOPLE to promote her memoir, Whoopi Goldberg elaborated on how her mother suffered a mental breakdown that led to her being hospitalized for two years. During that time, her mother underwent electroshock therapy, which wiped her memory.

“There was a time when I was older and I said to my mom, can you tell me a secret? She said, ‘I didn’t know who you were when I got out of the hospital. All I knew was that I never wanted to go back to that hospital. So I had to do everything I could.’”

Whoopi Goldberg and brother

In her memoir, Whoopi Goldberg also writes about her dyslexia and hiding her difficulties in school. Whoopi Goldberg further explains that she used memorization skills when reading in class.

• Whoopi Goldberg is no stranger to writing. She has published several children’s books and two memoirs, in 1997 and 2010. But her latest memoir is more personal. The new book also reveals her drug addiction and famous friendships.