Wendi McLendon-Covey, who plays Beverly Goldberg on the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs, has opened up about the show killing off her on-screen husband, played by Jeff Garlin, which she said: “was a long time coming.”
Garlin, who played family patriarch Murray Goldberg, departed the show last year following HR investigations into his alleged inappropriate behavior on set. At the start of the currently airing tenth season, it was revealed that Murray had passed away.
“That was a long time coming, and that it finally happened, it was like, ‘Okay, okay. Finally, someone is listening to us,’” McLendon-Covey said during an interview on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live on Tuesday, March 21.
Garlin’s exit came not long after the passing of George Segal, who played Pops on the show, meaning The Goldbergs had to deal with two significant losses within a year.
“We had lost George Segal in real life, and then to have to go through another loss on a sitcom; you can’t keep asking your audience to mourn people… That’s not why they tune in,” McLendon-Covey stated.
When Cohen tried to bring the conversation back to Garlin and the reason behind his departure, McLendon-Covey said, “If we cannot talk about that, would be great. I’m exhausted by that topic and the PTSD of it all.”
She later added, “I feel like the less people know about that, the better. No one, no one benefits from knowing anything.”
The Goldbergs is currently airing its final season, with the series finale scheduled for Wednesday, May 3. Meanwhile, McLendon-Covey looks to be sticking in the world of single-camera sitcoms, as she was recently added to the NBC pilot St. Denis Medical.
The Goldbergs, Season 10, Wednesdays, 8:30/7:30c, ABC
