Meet Whoopi Goldberg’s 2 Granddaughters: All About Amarah and Jerzey Dean

Known for iconic roles in movies like The Color Purple, Sister Act and Ghost, Whoopi Goldberg is one of only 18 EGOT winners, who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award for their work.

Before all of that, though, she had a daughter, Alexandra “Alex” Martin Dean, who now has three children: Goldberg’s granddaughters, Amara and Jerzey, and her grandson, Mason.

Goldberg had Alex when she was 18, after marrying her former drug counselor Alvin Martin in 1973. They divorced in 1979, and Goldberg was then married twice after.

In May 2024, Goldberg published a book about her family, Bits & Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me.

“This book is dedicated to everyone who is just trying to figure out the small stuff as well as the stuff where you have to be more than you thought you could be and it’s dedicated to love,” Goldberg said in a press release.

Keep reading for everything to know about Whoopi Goldberg’s two granddaughters.

Amara Skye Dean, 36

Amara was born on Nov. 13, 1989, in Berkeley, Calif., the first daughter of Alex Martin and Bernard Dean. She and her grandmother, who was only 34 when Amara was born, share the same birthday.

On March 16, 2014, Amara welcomed daughter Charli Rose Burr-Reynaud. “We’re a young family,” Amara told Essence in 2023. “My grandmother’s mother raised me for a little bit. My grandmother is a great-grandmother to my daughter. So we’ve created that connection. There’s only five of us in our family. We’re all we’ve got, so we take each other real close.”

Shortly after Charli’s birth, Goldberg talked about her new great-granddaughter on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. “I wasn’t your normal grandmother, and I’m not going to be your normal great-grandmother,” she said.

When Fallon asked her what Charli would call her, she said, “She better call me Whoopi.”

In 2023, Amara appeared on the show Claim to Fame, where relatives of celebrities attempt to conceal their identities in order to win a prize. As she prepared to be on the show, she got the blessing of her grandmother, who gave her some advice: “Be a strong b—– and come back happy,” Amara recalled.

Also on the show, Amara revealed another tidbit about Goldberg — how she got the nickname “Whoopi.”

“My grandma got her name because she likes to fart a lot,” she said. “So, whoopee cushions, farts. That’s how Caryn Johnson became Whoopi Goldberg.”

She went on to reveal that Goldberg once had a “fart war” in an elevator with close friends Billy Crystal and the late Robin Williams. “I wasn’t there, but it was my favorite story that my grandmother has told me, about her, Robin Williams and Billy Crystal standing in an elevator, and Robin Williams was just farting his life away. I guess they were Dutch-ovening each other, just basking in the ambiance of farts,” she said.

Amara also revealed to Essence that she never considered acting because that’s her grandmother’s thing. “Me and my grandma are super close. She’s everything,” she said. “It gets frustrating because it’s like, how am I going to compete with that? But I’m lucky enough to have that.”

Jerzey Kennedy Dean, 28

Jerzey was born Feb. 7, 1996. When she and her siblings were growing up, they were all close to their grandmother, who relished her role as the fun relative. “I don’t cook, and everyone knows it. I mean, I don’t even cook for my grandkids,” she told Parade in November 2007.

“For [Alex’s] kids, I’m just a grandmother. They look to me for adventure,” Whoopi added.

Since she was a teenager, Jerzey has appeared front row at fashion shows by top designers with Goldberg at her side.

Today, Jerzey is a fashion designer with her own label, Jerzey Kennedy Designs. According to the upscale athleisure label’s Instagram account, it’s based out of Los Angeles and New York.

Goldberg worked her way up from poverty to A-list status, and she wants to instill the same work ethic in her family. “She wants us to be real people. Stuff is not just handed to us. It could be, but it’s not,” Amara told Essence in 2023.

“I just want people to know that I really worked hard for my position and the stuff that I did. I did a lot without my grandmother’s help. But the fact that she’s there to give me the help, you know, I don’t want to run it up. I want to do what I can do,” she added.