Ted Danson Dumped Whoopi Goldberg Because His Parents Disapproved, Sources Claimed Though they were only together for less than two years in the early '90s, Ted Danson's relationship with. They said that Danson was “under pressure from his parents,” who apparently didn’t approve of the relationship, so “he dumped Whoopi.” It is unclear if these claims were ever true. However, their split couldn’t have been all that difficult, as both moved on pretty quickly.