Wendi McLendon-Covey knows people are curious about Jeff Garlin’s departure from “The Goldbergs." But the actor says she doesn’t want to dwell on it.
McLendon-Covey, 53, addressed her former co-star’s highly publicized exit from the sitcom during a new episode of Andy Cohen's Sirius XM show.
When asked how she felt about her character becoming a widow this season after Garlin's character was killed off, McLendon-Covey said the change was overdue.
"That was a long time coming. It finally happened. It was like, 'OK, finally someone is listening to us,'" she explained.
Garlin initially left the show in December 2021 after he was investigated for several allegations of misconduct on set, which he denied and described as a "difference of opinion."
For the rest of the season, the show used previously shot footage and unused takes of his character, Murray. In the first episode of Season 10, the show briefly addressed Murray's death but didn't go into any details.
During her interview with Cohen, McLendon-Covey said that Garlin's departure was "kind of hard" creatively for the show, especially since it followed the death of George Segal, who played her character's father on the show.
"To have to go through another loss on a sitcom, you know, you can’t keep asking your audience to mourn people," she said.
"That’s not why they tune in," she added.
Cohen clarified the timing of Garlin's departure and said, “So the Jeff Garlin thing was not something that happened suddenly, it was the culmination of a long period of time when people were complaining about that.”
"Yes," McLendon-Covey said, nodding.
“Yeah, and if we could not talk about that, that would be great,” the actor added.
“Yeah, fine, OK,” Cohen said.
“I’m exhausted by that topic and the PTSD of it all,” she said.
Cohen respected McLendon-Covey's decision to end the conversation there.
“By the way, I love it when someone says, ‘I don’t wanna talk about that,’” Cohen said.
“I know, it’s so obnoxious,” the star said.
“It’s actually not obnoxious. It’s actually being clear and direct,” he said.
“OK, good," she said. "The less people know about that, the better. No one benefits from knowing anything."
After 10 seasons, "The Goldbergs" is coming to an end this spring, and will air its final episode May 3.
McLendon-Covey addressed the bittersweet news on Instagram last month, writing with a red heart emoji, "It’s been a helluva decade. I don’t have the language skills to convey how much this experience has meant to me. Endless gratitude."