Whoopi Goldberg has said she will give Donald Trump a “chance” at being the president of the United States, as she would like to – at least – be able to complain about him.

The Hollywood star, 61, is never one to mince her words and her apparent backing of the president-elect might come as a shock, but she has explained her reasoning as deftly as ever.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph ahead of her forthcoming Stand Up Live show at the London Palladium, she revealed she did not expect such political change both in the US with Trump being elected, and in Europe with the Brexit vote.

Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg (PA Archive/PA Images)

She said: “On both sides of the pond, people were caught with their pants down.

“I so clearly remember my mother saying that she never thought she’d live to see a black man in the White House.”

Asked if Trump being voted in as the next president over Hillary Clinton was difficult, she confessed: “It was, but I’m giving him a chance.

“What else can I do?”

When given the option of throwing herself off the Empire State Building as a show of despair, she responded: “No, because that would mean I wouldn’t be around to pay attention and to scream and rail when things go wrong.

Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act the Musical in London, 2010 (Ian West/PA Archive/PA Images)

“It’s like everything: if you take yourself out of the equation, you can’t complain.”

Whoopi, one of the stars of US daily talk show The View, added: “So I’m dealing with this stuff every day. It’s a forum. I’ve talked many times about Trump’s attitude to women and to black people, two subjects on which I feel entitled to speak.”

The Oscar-winning star will entertain her British fans in February with a one-off show at the Palladium, where she last performed in Sister Act in 2010.