Whoopi Goldberg (Reuters)

Whoopi Goldberg has a heart of coal when it comes to collecting the rent–that’s what a former tenant of “The View” host claims after she was evicted from her home of 40 years after falling behind in her property taxes.

“She is a merciless, cruel woman,” Suzanne Lindsay tells Star magazine, via RadarOnline.com, of Goldberg. “I found myself a single mom after having three children. I was working, but I couldn’t keep up because of all the tragedy.”

Lindsay, who declared bankruptcy in 2010, owed $13,455 in back taxes on Goldberg’s West Orange, NJ carriage house, which the Oscar-winner purchased in 2009. Lindsay had a 99-year lease on the property.

(Reuters)

Desperate, Lindsay pleaded with Goldberg for mercy. “I told her I had lost my children, and she sat there in front of the fire with me, holding my hand, and listened.”

Goldberg’s lawyers offered to pay Lindsay $10,000 toward her moving costs if she forfeited the 33 years left on the lease. She agreed and had a week to move.

“I was devastated,” explained Lindsay. “I was crying, my grandson was crying. We had to pack up so fast; he had to leave his jungle gym, which he got for his birthday. He was very, very upset. It was awful.”

Goldberg maintains that she had no choice in evicting Lindsay. In a lengthy statement, Goldberg claims in part that Lindsay tried to sell her the lease, but wasn’t happy with Goldberg’s offer. “The tenant refused–she wanted more and we left it at that.”

Goldberg noted that Lindsay was “was completely unrealistic about the value of the property” and owed the bank “over $350,000” and was “in default on her mortgage as well as her rent.”

“In short, she turned down my offers to buy her lease and basically tried what she could to stay in the house for as long as possible without paying what she owed,” said Goldberg. “(Lindsay) lost the house because she did not keep her end of her lease or her loan from the bank, not because of me.” Goldberg added, “Instead of accepting responsibility for her actions, (Lindsay) seems to want me to take responsibility for the situation she got herself into.”

Lindsay, meanwhile, insists that she was steamrolled by a Hollywood star. “You have to be a very wealthy person to go up against (Goldberg), and I didn’t have any money.”