‘The Goldbergs’ Wendi McLendon-Covey Doesn’t Buy Jeff Garlin’s Reasons for Being ‘Mean’

Martin Holmes September 22, 2026, 10:14 am

Wendi McLendon-Covey and Jeff Garlin — Paul Archuleta/Getty Images; Leon Bennett/Getty Images

What To Know

Wendi McLendon-Covey rejected Jeff Garlin’s explanation that his behavior on The Goldbergs was due to undiagnosed bipolar disorder.
Garlin, who left the show in 2021 after misconduct allegations, claimed he was “miserable” at the time.
McLendon-Covey said her recollections, as well as those of the cast and crew, differ from Garlin’s account.

Wendi McLendon-Covey, who played the wife of Jeff Garlin on the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs, isn’t buying her former TV husband’s reasons for why he acted so “mean” on set.

Garlin was previously accused of misconduct on set and faced multiple HR investigations. Those accusations included inappropriate jokes and unwanted touching. He exited the show in 2021 but defended himself against the allegations, describing himself as “always a kind and thoughtful person.”

In a recent interview with the Daily Beast’s Obsessed podcast, Garlin put his behavior down to undiagnosed bipolar disorder. “I actually empathize with [McLendon-Covey] because, at the time, I was undiagnosed bipolar,” he said, per Entertainment Weekly. “I was miserable on the show, and I was miserable with my performance.”

Garlin explained that McLendon-Covey was always telling him he was great on the show. “I didn’t believe her. I just got to the point where I had to quit, and she was very resentful,” he added.

“Being bipolar, I was either one of three things: dark, dark, dark, dark, didn’t talk and look at anyone; happy to the point of mania, never turning off my thing; or mean — really, really mean,” he continued, noting that he didn’t get his diagnosis until near the end of his time on the show.

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McLendon-Covey, who played Beverly Goldberg across all 10 seasons of the 80s-set comedy, responded to the Daily Beast’s Instagram post, which featured a clip of Garlin’s comments on the podcast.

“Huh,” she initially wrote before expanding on her thoughts when fans asked her to elaborate. “Let’s just say I remember things very differently, as does the crew, the other actors, the writers, and our executives.”

McLendon-Covey has never spoken directly about Garlin’s behavior on set, though at the time of his exit, she told Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM show that it was “a long time coming.”

She went on to say that she didn’t want to discuss the matter anymore because she was “exhausted by everything” and over “the PTSD of it all.”